Waking up...

What a beautiful morning to wake up in Slaithwaite. What a beautiful morning to wake up anywhere. And, at my life of life, how wonderful to wake up at all. I had a stroll along the canal, watched a grey wagtail exploring the water margins and took some photos of narrowboats and mill chimneys reflected in the canal. Saying that the leaves are turning “brown’ really doesn’t do justice to the range of colours in such an autumnal scene.

I got my breakfast - tea and a bacon sarnie - at the Carvery Courtyard, where a local butcher has created a shop within a shop. You can get beef, or pork or lamb sandwiches, freshly carved from a roast joint; they have pies and pasties too, served with gravy or without, or onions or mushy peas. You can even get a ‘Shaun the Sheep Minted Lamb Pasty’. “That’s not really Shaun, is it?”, I asked. “I didn’t catch its name”, said the butcher, grimly, as he wielded a cleaver.

I’ve done an hour’s work on the book. An hour in the morning, when the brain is refreshed by sleep, is worth two hours in the evening, when finding the right word can be frustrating. The only way the morning could be improved would be to go online and find that I’ve licensed a pic or two. Sales have been poor in recent weeks; at this rate I’ll be lucky to match last year’s total.

STOP PRESS: just licensed this pic taken from the top of Malham Cove. I've just realised that what I try to do, with a lot of my pictures, is to show people interacting with their surroundings and with each other...