First.length.social
Section 27 and a lovely bright day, beautiful blue sky with high clouds. It is about 1.30 and we have just had some lunch sitting here. The park is really busy today. Lots of different people walking through. Once again they are not marching through but strolling and enjoying the few moments they are spending there. There are a few mothers with young children, but otherwise not so many children but I suppose it is school time, so they are either in school or isolating as so many are. My daughter is off school but not isolating so here with me.
There are a group of lads with a moped on a bench, not quite in my section who were friendly and chatty. Not completely sure why they have a moped in the park and not parked on the road like anyone else might but maybe it’s new and they have just saved up for it so they are worried about leaving it. I’m not so sure about that.
A couple of girls in my section put a blanket down and start picnicking on a pizza. They were just really enjoying the weather and the atmosphere in the park. There is definitely a feeling of freedom here. I have to ask why that is? Cases here in Darlington are extremely high and I know there is a worry despite all rules potentially being lifted very soon. So is it that relaxation that fuels the atmosphere or the winning of the football yesterday or is it that despite the pressures you can feel everywhere else, those pressures are left at the boundary wall when you come in here and for a few moments you can just enjoy the space. That’s what I think anyway.
An old lady moves slowly through the section with her walker. Stopping a couple of times to sit on her walker she carries on through. You wonder about her. Does she have any family? Does she walk into town because she wants to or because she has to? How has the pandemic been for her, has she been alone or was there a bubble?
Dogs and dog walkers are there today but not as many as yesterday and none came into my section. I don’t have any numbers.
Interestingly today I took Chloe to look at the mushrooms from yesterday as they were so beautiful and they had gone, completely gone!
Today I saw: 2 lampposts, 1 bench, 1 bin, 1 dandelion, 14 pieces of litter, lots of cigarette ends but considerably less than usual around a bench, 1 old and split open conker, grass, clover, daisies, buttercups, tree roots,
Parklife 