WATER & WASTE.

  Just after the hail hit hard last night, the heavens opened to drench us with much needed rain ... so heavy at times through the night that it kept me awake, so we slept in late.
It may seem strange, but to don waterproofs and wellies and go splodging about in the new wetness was fun. Despite the lack of sun, small details stood out, clearly defined.

 Areas that had been dry and grass looking somewhat winter starved seemed to have drunk deeply and seemed fresher and greener for the overnight drenching and the damp fleeced sheep seemed content. So much rain had fallen overnight that recently dry watercourses were freely flowing. The whole area just seemed to be smiling, even with more rain promised from the drizzly grey clouds overhead. We were wet but happy as we waded through the newly formed pools and rivulets that ran freely again across the moors, 

 it all looked so clean and fresh, except ... for a residual problem, a food related one ...

 Now, this bag marked "Farm Food" contains food wrappers, be it bottle, tins, plastic or paper. It is full of discarded litter from a mere half mile of mountain road. Now the better half, cannot stand the sight of this litter and picks it all up and bags it, then sorts it out into what is recyclable and what aint. The worst half cusses and swears like a trooper at the ignorant gits that spoil our lovely landscape, but on the whole, most of this bag contains glass, tins and plastic, so goes into the recycling bin behind the old church. At least two kind, caring souls have treated one of the benches to a brand new weatherproof coat, so it was good to sit in a "dryish" break, rest the weary hips and legs and look out at the freshly watered flowers.

Then we took a small walk across the field to look across the changing skies above the valleys, just as a brief hour of sunshine highlighted the heights and lows of the landscape below us. One type of waste at least will be recycled into future new growth, and with the sun on the fallen beech leaves I just couldn't resist this ... 

It sort of reminds me of the chartist figure of last week, though I doubt there are a million beech leaves in the shadow of this well washed figure of a photographer!