Mousey Mousey.....(weird dreams)

Last night I dreamed that I was contracted to train a mouse to run up the side of a van.

Unsurprisingly, the mouse couldn’t gain purchase on the slippery van sides. What irked me more was that my colleague was performing the same task but with a gecko. Unfairly disadvantaged I was considering taking my grievance to ‘The Management’ when fate intervened and I woke up.

Clinincal pshycologists, do your worst….

Exploring the past at Hinkshay (Historical industrial Telford)

With my hiatus in continuance, yesterday I took a chance to enjoy some wonderful sunshine and took off in the direction of Telford Town Park, with a flask of tea and an OS map. My Raison D’être was to locate the Hinkshay pools; remnants ofTelford’s long forgotten golden era of industry. There are 2 pools to be found – the Lower Pool was formed when the dam retaining the Upper Pool (a balancing lake for the canal system) burst. A short stretch of the flooded canal also remains.

I don’t know why I’ve become interested in this bygone era. Perhaps it is a wanting to connect more with Telford or simply curiosity. Either way, I set off in the sunshine and without much trouble (I’m good at reading maps) I found the pools at the bottom of a steep wooded copse.I was tired so I took my leave and had a cuppa by the banks of a crystal clear pool some 10 feet deep and flat calm. It was truly remarkable and delightful that in the midst of the urban sprawl of Telford I could find such tranquillity. The fact that it was Tuesday mid-morning probably helped, but these places are so few travelled by locals that I think you could easily find such solitude on any given weekend. More rare of course, in these busy modern times, is to be able to indulge oneself in a whole day of such pursuits.

When the warm sunny days approach, wifey and I are quick to jump in the car and get out of Telford as quick as possible. But a newfound interest in Telford’s past has opened up a rich and wonderful landscape right on our doorstep: and its there for you all to experience if you simply look close enough.