Coming back from a clergy meeting this afternoon, which had been down at the Ferry Inn (last ferry departed about 1287 AD), I thought I'd take a quick hike up Chapel Bank to the old graveyard there. It was dramatic weather, bitterly cold and grey, but with a redness to the higher sky that was casting shadows and adding an acidity to the colours. The view from the top is always worth it. Truidged the first field through mud, over a bridge alongisde another field where two swans rested: then up the bank itself. Looking down I could see a big digger clearing out drains, one of which ran straight toward my position. Two men stood by it, one wearing high-vis, one not: I thought, if I'd got thsat job with the Environment Agency I went for, I'd probably be the guy in the high-vis. Then on up to the top, to the Sinden trees and the view beyond over Appledore to the Marshes. A diiferent kind of high-vis? Looking back, I realised a bank of darker weather was coming inn fast from the west, and I hurried down, just a few spots of water on my glasses. Glad I did it.
