Marching Into A Mess

Most mornings: sitting around with tea and other hot beverages for hours on end. Activities include: being on computers, stoking the fire, showering, and making breakfast. So Rach and I were feeling like right lazy sods, and decided to do something about it. No more getting up and lazing around, now we were going to start each day with a brisk morning Irish countryside walk. So yesterday morning we set out, still dressed in pyjamas, but bundled into coats. It was lovely, the air with that fresh feeling to it that only exists in the morningtime. We walked along for awhile, and came upon a field off to the left. Often these fields have barbed wire around them to imply that they are someone's private property, but this particular area had none. So we hopped over the ditch, and on into the field. We soon realized that this was a rather muddy field, not surprising, given all the rain, but we went further anyway, since we had our wellies on, and besides, we were not now the sort of people to let a little mud stop us, we were the type to go for brisk Irish countryside morning walks! There was another intriguing-looking area off further to the left, so we decided to head over to it, with myself in the lead. I got about three steps in when suddenly with one step I felt myself sinking extremely fast into the mud! This was very wet, very deep mud, and no sooner did I wrench that foot out of the mud than I was sinking with my next step! This continued for about four rapid and terrifying steps, until I found myself stranded on a safe little grassy mound, completely uninterested in going any further, and feeling rather apprehensive about going back either. So I stood there like a timid silly ninny for about half a minute, before Rachel convinced me that I would probably be able to get back without sinking, if I planned my steps very carefully. So that's what I did, and we tramped our way back to the road, carefully stepping on (by flattening) the coarse wild grasses that have sprung up in amongst the rather moist patches of more mossy grass. We could see the mark of exactly how far I had sunk into the mud on my wellies, and it was about an inch from the top. So that was lucky at least, that I didn't sink any deeper. When I got home, however, I realized upon taking my wellies off that there was mud caked onto my socks and my feet were damp, so maybe not thank god for wellies after all......

So all in all, going for a walk first thing in the morning was a good thing, as adventures probably build character, and are certainly more invigorating than sitting around with tea for hours. And besides, we arrived home with energy, which translated to sauteeing some breakfast veggies and cooking eggs.