Friday 26 February 2016

A country walk to blow the cobwebs away

I thought it was all going so well, this winter. We've hardly had any snow and the nights were getting lighter. Yes, fair to say I was feeling pretty good about it all.

Well.

The universe has shown me who's boss. Sent me a dose of bubonic plague. OK, technically it might have just been a cold or flu, but man, it was bad. Two week's worth of lying in bed bad. My first ever sick note from the doctor bad.
Thankfully I'm on the mend now, so we thought it would be a good idea to go out from some fresh air. Blow away the cobwebs and all that. I didn't fancy a proper yomp, just a gentle initiation back into real life. So off we went to Epperstone, a little village in rural Nottinghamshire for a mooch around.
At first glance, it's pretty, with red brick cottages, several dovecotes and a church dating back to the 13th century.
These quasi-medieval carved heads on the church porch, are of an unnamed king and queen.
Throw in a mention in the Domesday book and a pub where the chef used to cook for the Queen and suddenly it's also interesting. When I get my appetite back properly, I think we should go and try it out.
We followed a public footpath which led us up into fields, giving lovely views over the surrounding countryside. The wind was ferocious so he tied his scarf around my head to keep me warm, Lawrence of Arabia style. We sheltered under a tree to eat our lunch.
Our walk back took us through the really lovely church graveyard. What an amazing place to rest in peace. Spring flowers are giving it their all. Daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses, primroses, celandine and periwinkle. All blooming their socks off.
I'm not going to say this out loud, just in case I jinx it, but I reckon maybe, just maybe, Spring is around the corner? Who's with me? All in agreement say 'Aye'!
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All these pictures of graveyards have got me to thinking about an interesting presentation we had at work to do with digital online remains. Have you ever thought about that? What would happen to all your various online accounts when you die? How they might be accessed and by whom? It's a new area, but apparently people are starting to write this type of thing into their will.
As a start, I've written down every online account I can think of that I have, from banks to social media to websites, with user names and passwords. The next step is to simplify, as there are too many. I think I will try one user name and one password, but put it in my diary to change them once a month. What are your thoughts? I'd be very interested to hear.