A walk in the woods

There is this footpath that runs past No 78 I like to take walks on. It runs for at least 6K, and more at parts because it hooks up with Warwickshire Public Footpaths. These paths wander over the river and through the woods and have little side paths that take you lots of little sometimes creepy places covered in holly and ivy and blackberries and swans swimming in wee nestled ponds, and I love it. At points I can see old crusty farms with sagging roofs amidst fat oak trees and hedgerows plopped all over the countryside. And it is quiet. Quiet is something I took for granted growing up, as we always lived in the suburbs (after I was born, anyway) and had big backyards with trees and creeks and things like that. Living in Duluth just off 4th Street (an ambulance line) I wondered how so many people could require an ambulance, I mean it can’t be that bad, can’t you drive yourself anyway? The point is, it was noisy and constant and the only consolation was that if ever I was in want of a hospital, I need only roll down the hill to St. Luke’s on 3rd street. So now I have learned to appreciate the peacefulness of the place where I live, and the walks that Mac and I take. Before we left Duluth, we used to walk Chester Creek and hash things out, and sometimes we would talk about things we looked forward to in England, and things we would miss in Duluth. I ‘knew’ I would miss the Chester Creek walk. But now I take a different walk, with different bits of nature to appreciate as I amble to and fro. The goal is not so much to find better or worse, but to find different, and be happy with it.