Lake

I managed to get home early for once, helped by a lack of anything particularly urgent to do at work (or at least if there was anything urgent, nobody told me about it, or at least not often enough for it to register) and by avoiding stopping off at the shops on the way (which I seem to have done every evening this week, partly because I have needed to buy birthday presents, which takes ages at my usual rate of buying one small item per shopping trip, if at all, as well as having got into the habit of purchasing only the minimum quantity of food I require at each visit to the supermarket, rather than stocking up for six months in advance, which would be much more useful in case of unexpected hurricanes or alien invasion).

And having got home early, and eaten my dinner promptly (a salad, for which fortunately I had enough ingredients hanging about in the fridge, left over from when I last ate salad, which luckily wasn't that long ago, seeing that these things tend to wilt rapidly), I managed to summon up enough enthusiasm for going out for a drive into darkest Staffordshire, and then, at the end of the drive, a gentle walk by the side of a lake.

It is a pleasant way to spend a warm summer evening, watching the boats bobbing placidly on waters, a few birds swooping here and there, a few insects trying to get out of their way. There were not many people about: some salty old sea-dogs securing their craft for the night, and couples wandering hand-in-hand or pushing pushchairs or walking dogs. I had my camera with me and, despite the rapidly fading light, took some pictures of boats.