So, Isabelle, you ask: what happened on Friday morning before your mother took ill?Well, since you're so polite as to enquire: the day was going rather well. Mum had a shower and then decided that she felt strong enough to get her hair done, which was a great advance, so I phoned the hairdresser and took Mum along. I then went for a little walk, rejoicing in the fact that Mum was feeling more positive and that I had half an hour to myself when someone else was chatting to her. So I walked along the road above, enjoying the mild air and the autumn colours.
This is a road about a couple of miles from our house, along which I've frequently driven but never walked for any distance.
I came to this sign, which I'd never noticed before. Fantasising briefly about starting up my own little business (type not decided) in Prestigious Accommodation in a Castle, I walked up the drive a little.
It was pleasant.
Though there was this big, forbidding notice.
In a pioneering spirit, I walked a little further, but chickened out when a lady got out of a car up by the castle and looked at me.Anyway, if I worked at the castle I'd have to get rid of that orange wall.
This is what it looks like on the internet. Not an orange wall in sight.
Returning to the road, I passed this field, which usually has horses in it.
As you can see, houses are gradually encroaching on the fields, which are presumably doomed to be built on eventually. Which seems a pity, but then I like living in a house, myself.
The estate is quite leafy and tasteful.
Then I came upon a second notice. Finding the spelling and punctuation somewhat painful (and what is a "herrus fence"?) I decided to have a look at the "ongoinging works", which seemed to be happening up a path, nearer the hill.
My phone photo doesn't really give the impression of the startling nature of these works, but in the middle of all these nice white houses and flats, huge - HUGE - HUGE excavations are taking place. It's like a scene from Dante's Inferno - those flats at the top look as if they're built on a precipice of mud, and lots of diggers are shovelling vast quantitites of earth hither and thither. It's all relatively near the peaceful road and I'd had no idea it was happening.
I walked up the path a bit and aimed my phone at the fine-mesh green netting which screens the full awfulness from the passer-by.
This is what it looks like on the internet. Not an orange wall in sight.
Returning to the road, I passed this field, which usually has horses in it.
As you can see, houses are gradually encroaching on the fields, which are presumably doomed to be built on eventually. Which seems a pity, but then I like living in a house, myself.
The estate is quite leafy and tasteful.
Then I came upon a second notice. Finding the spelling and punctuation somewhat painful (and what is a "herrus fence"?) I decided to have a look at the "ongoinging works", which seemed to be happening up a path, nearer the hill.
My phone photo doesn't really give the impression of the startling nature of these works, but in the middle of all these nice white houses and flats, huge - HUGE - HUGE excavations are taking place. It's like a scene from Dante's Inferno - those flats at the top look as if they're built on a precipice of mud, and lots of diggers are shovelling vast quantitites of earth hither and thither. It's all relatively near the peaceful road and I'd had no idea it was happening. 
I walked up the path a bit and aimed my phone at the fine-mesh green netting which screens the full awfulness from the passer-by. Well, goodness, I thought to myself. Fancy that. This is the most surprising sight that I've seen for some time. Certainly this is this month's most unnerving event.
But I was wrong.
the "to let" sign brought back a memory from my visit to Scotland last year. I keep seeing "To let" signs all over and my brain filled in the i to make it "To i let" I couldn't get over the fact that Glascow and Edinburgh had so many public toilets. I had forgotten that until I saw your post. Thank you for letting my laugh at myself!
ReplyDeleteThe castle is lovely-the sprawling homes not so much. I too, like a home, but it still makes me sad when beautiful land is squashed for it. :)
ReplyDeleteOh dear.....all that lovely green land covered with houses.....if the natural ground is covered up, where does the water go when it rains? Does it burrow under the houses and send them all hurtling down the hills?
ReplyDeleteI suppose the ever increasingly building of houses and apartments bring home to us how many more of us there are on this earth, despite our falling birthrates. Wherever I have been recently, apartments abound. Cityscapes change, urban infill occur at an ever-increasing rate, and I worry about all the people who will never have gardens, other than communally gardened common areas - if they are lucky and who probably cannot even grown herbs such as parsley.
ReplyDeleteWell, what a glorious walk, though you have left us on a cliff-hanger.
ReplyDeleteThe castle would be fun to rent, though the building-of-apartments scene is like something out of the Lord of the Rings--sheer devastation which will be regretted by future generations.
Beautiful Scotland!
I don't know what the hole is about, but Herrus fencing is what you often see around building sites - like this: http://www.hertstools.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=109 .
ReplyDeleteIf I've found the right hole in the ground, it's for new houses being built by Mactaggart and Mickel. I think the massive groundworks are just them creating flat areas on the side of a rather steep hill. More info here.
ReplyDelete"Ongoinging" -- is that some fancy new Scottish spelling??? I would think that at times, it's very painful to be an English teacher. I would have a hard time not editing the mistakes I see. At any rate, you walk looks like it was lovely -- at least up until the end.
ReplyDelete