There was a woodlouse crawling down my bedroom wall at 8am, Soot (known as the furry alarm clock at this time of day) had just got off my bed and was having his breakfast, it was a bit misty outside, and I started stirring the porridge with the radio on – and heard the headlines. I gave Soot a cuddle then, turned the computer on briefly, it was 8.30am when breakfast was served, and it was eaten within 15 minutes; I packed my bag, and at 9.30am, condensation was removed from the car windscreen and we left. 10 minutes later the car was parked by Jephson Gardens…

…a Dalmatian, soggy spaniel, and a terrier were each being individually walked, and we had a brief sit down by the Pump Rooms – and then we saw a group gathering and went over and introduced ourselves to Satty (bald, early 40s, wearing shorts), and I gave him my information card (which I always have with me to inform people what encephalitis is in a bit more detail than what I can say in a couple of sentences) and explained things. At 10.17am we set off, geese were honking, and someone called Jafar talked to me, said he was from Scotland and works for Jaguar Land Rover, then I saw a tree with loads and loads of tiny apples on (and picked a leaf – which I could use to identify it later); we went through a dark wood, emerged in what I thought was Newbold Common, rather bad language was written on a skateboarding ramp, we went through a gate and kept walking, turned right and went through another wooded area. Mum found me and said a woman had told her her life story, a Hungarian woman told us about the Hungarian language being so complicated; then we continued alongside the river; and at 11.37am we emerged at and crossed Willes Road, where house number 204 had a husband and wife trimming a hedge.

We returned to the canalside, Mum said we were going back the way we came, 1 kayaker zoomed past, canal boats were intermittently moored, a swan on the water hissed violently at a dog being walked, I saw a traffic cone floating in the water, and at 12.08pm we were at Radford Bottom lock.

People stood still, 2 boats went through, bicycles were ridden past, and a woman (late 60s, shoulder length grey hair) with a cartoon cat on her t-shirt showed us an app called Map My Walk and thought we were at the half way point, said we’d be going back by the Offchurch Greenway, and I saw some men fishing. We went up the hill and on to it, were passed by 2 King Charles Spaniels (1 of whom stopped and pooped); Mum thought this was rather like a route march…

…and a partially bald and partially ginger haired and bearded bloke (early 30s) started talking to her, said he was from Switzerland, and a few things I forgot because we went across a harvested wheat field, popped out in Offchurch, sat at benches by The Stag and the men bought beer.

I picked an apple from a tree, sat down, the woman with the cartoon cat t-shirt asked about my notes, and Mum described the working memory problems, then the woman told us about her 25% sight loss, said something about being educated at a convent and that she’s an accountant, and began telling Mum and I a lot about her issues; I saw a bench with some helium balloons tied to it, farming and animal rights became the topic until we got up again at about 1.20pm, crossed the road and went over a stile and across a field I recognised, an extremely tall man said some stuff to Mum and I that I forgot, we climbed over a stile, walked across a field, climbed over another extremely wobbly stile, went through 2 more fields, and reached a very straight lane/drive.

That was followed by leafy paths, we met a couple of lively Labradoodles in a place that Mum said was Newbold Common, crossed a bridge and went through a field with cow pats, another 1, over 2 stiles and through a couple more fields, she was eating lots of biscuits, the man seemed to have got confused and sounded very nervous when told what direction we were going in (because we were heading home), we continued over fields and fields, and at 2.30pm we opted to break away early, and said goodbye. Mum navigated us back to the car by Jephson Gardens, and decided we deserved an ice cream; we got 1 each and ate them in the car – while a mother and daughter (3->4 years old ish) were sat on a bench nearby sharing 1, and the daughter got a lot on her nose.

We saw a Dalmatian rolling around in the Cubbington Road park, got home at about 3.20pm, Soot got up to greet us, we decided to boil the kettle, seated ourselves, and he had his spa treatment. Todays notes were reviewed, I got an email from my cousin, and checked the covid figures. I was flopped upon then, Soot purred and kept a paw round me, and when she got up at 5.30pm – she found a pine cone in her back trouser pocket. I had to get up and close the 2 chickens (who’d settled down in their roost) we have at the end of the garden up for the night at 6pm…

…and I started writing up my list before supper, which was an omelette – eaten watching Johnny English Reborn.