When I got here, I was longing to revisit the South Downs, where - intermittently - I have walked alone or in company for years. Yet until today I have been full of lethargy and a vague feeling of resentment whenever I have headed for the countryside (my walks along the seafront have been less unsuccesful).
Perhaps I had been rushing around too much getting my maisoneter together. Perhaps I was emotionally exhausted. Whatever, whatever. Yawn.
Anyway, bizarrely, the sudden attack of hay fever yesterday seems to have cleared the lethargy out of my system. This afternoon I took a train to Hassocks - the first country station north - and, without planning to, walked up to the top of the Downs, and back to a Brighton suburb, where, three and a half hours later, I caught a bus back home from Asda. Stunning views, steep climbs, gentle descents, woodland, open fileds, lots of uderless cows (aka bulls) - and most of all a sense that I had rediscovered some of myself that in the last few months has got stuck in a time warp.
