The thing with social networks is you often find you know the basics about people. Facebook allows you to check statuses, see photographs from a night out, organise events etc but very rarely do you use it as a tool to find out the random facts about peoples lives you miss from rambling conversations and spending time together. Twitter is slightly better for this I think, you might discover opinions you wouldn’t have otherwise come across, all in 140 characters. Usually I have found this to happen when a particular event is trending. Some situations bring out the joker in people, others the moaner, passion and apathy…but I’m always learning about people. One of the things I love about this blogathon is that it’s teaching me all sorts of facts about Katy, Fiona and Catnip that I wouldn’t have known before. For example I now know some Lithuanian, that Fionas family had a cabin by a gorgeous Lake District lake and that Katy LOVES sports! Maybe in time I would have discovered these things, but I may not have.
Todays theme offers an insight into our daily lives that would almost certainly never be discussed otherwise. Who talks about the every day journeys we all take really? You very rarely, if ever, sit down with your friends and discuss in detail the ins and outs of your commute, or a walk you take after work or whatever. I have no idea which journey Katy, Fiona and Trepatukas are going to describe yet, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
I recently moved house from Cardiff to Carmarthen so my commute to work has increased from 40 minutes to about 75. My new journey is ok, it’s mainly motorway with a few country roads either side, not particularly interesting. My old commute was far more interesting, there was always something going on, so I would prefer to tell you about that!
Here are 7 stories and pictures that I took from December 2010 – June 2011.
December
I was originally just going to tell you 6 stories, from January – June, but I found this picture (and several others actually) and just had to show you how beautiful my route to work was in the snow and frost. Look at it. It was really scary driving up and down steep hills and windy trails, especially as some drove like idiots no matter what. I slipped and slid more than once, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. I think it was about -9 when I took this one. Brr!!
January
In January my route to work turned from white to WET! There were floods in Brisbane and floods in Llanmaes. I snapped this while waiting for my turn to cross the waters.
February
One chill February day I was driving along, down past the farm which advertises fresh meat, through the windy lane which is only wide enough for one car resulting in you praying you don’t meet anyone and have to reverse 100 metres up hill to allow them to pass when I came to the bridge and for some reason looked up. I had not done this before, probably because I was usually late and therefore concentrating on driving as fast but safely as possible. Today however I looked up…and saw this. What on EARTH is that?! And why is it on top of a telegraph pole? I did not know then, I do not know know…it’s a mystery, but it made me laugh!
March
Just down the road from the dog on a pole, a few weeks later, my route was blocked by this chappy. I think he must have escaped from the opposite field. Such a pretty fellow! He ambled calmly across the road and eventually moved over enough for me to pass.
This wasn’t the first time I’d been stopped by his kind. Late last year I was driving home in the dark (gets dark early in winter) when a whole herd of wet and muddy shire horses thundered past me in the night. It was so spooky I wondered if I had imagined it. I did snap a photo but it’s gone so I must have deleted it. Maybe it really was all a random winters dream!
April
I have already blogged about this story so sorry if this is cheating. One of my favourite parts of the journey to work was this little collection of houses and farms by a river, each with their own bridge to get to their abode. It really saddened me one day to see it like this…
Luckily I had my wellies in my car and there was a box which had obviously tipped over causing the mess, so I popped out and 20 minutes later there was a nice clear river and several happy ducks. Good deed of the day done!
May
This little guy was running ahead of me (on that track I mentioned earlier which is only a car width wide) for about two minutes one morning, causing me to slow to a crawl. I wondered and wondered why he didn’t just run into the hedge, prefering instead to scamper down the road. Maybe he thought he was a car! Eventually however the hedge turned into a gate and he hopped underneath it. Made me think of Peter rabbit!
June
By this point I knew my time on this commute was drawing to a close, so I have a great many pictures of things I’d stopped to snap on the way to work or (more usually as I wasn’t in a rush) on the way home. But of all the sunsets, pretty views, random trees and horses I snapped, these ducks stand out for me. I’m not sure what it is about ducks that I love, maybe they remind me of fun and carefree days out when I was a kid, who knows! But seeing these every day made me smile 🙂 I hope this blog made you smile a little bit too!
All these photos have been set to align centre, so I have no idea why some of them are sticking to the left! Silly things!
Edit: Very randomly the day after I posted this I found an old phone and lo and behold the spooky photo of the horses was on it!!
This post is part of the Twitter Blogathon.
A little bit of Katyness.... 
