Having lost a friend to Covid on Christmas Eve and with Covid infection rates between 1in 20 and 1in 40 in London Boroughs I wanted to choose a meeting place away from any gathering of people. Until today Ken and I had met at the cafe in Beddington Park but that is next to the children's playground, the car park and the queue for coffee. So we chose the unlikely spot of the corner opposite the entrance to the park, double red lines preventing any cars stopping and pedestrians hopefully moving quickly to the park.
It was a beautiful sunny day but bitterly cold. Double gloves just keeping fingers from frostbite! We didn't hang about, very brief pleasantries and we cycled through Wallington to cross Stafford Road and make our way to Farthing Down. En route we were flagged down by Ray, well wrapped up in his Christmas scarf and waving some paperwork frantically at us. A petition to remove the cycle lane on Foresters Drive had been put through his door with instructions to sign it!!!!! Well that won't be happening and more about that in another blog.
A surprising number of cars were on the road, given they had to be on essential journeys!!
I'd told Ken I was going to stop at the top of Farthing Down to take photos of the city as it was such a beautiful day. But no, the city was shrouded in freezing fog and not to be seen. So we cycled on to Chaldon church and witnessed the odd phenomenon of rain apparently pouring off a yew tree. We stood in the sunshine and dry a few feet away - the snow must have been melting.
Ken and the raining tree!
Then back to DD's in Coulsdon for tea where we happened to meet Paul who had cycled over Netherne and was chaining his bike to the fence. A quick hot drink in the cold and Ken and I left Paul to his own route while we cycled back uneventfully but getting colder all the time to Wallington.
Thanks Ken for coming out today and stopping me turning for home when I realised how cold it was!
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