If you are a regular reader you may recall that I recently wrote about having one of those magical days where everything goes right. Well yesterday was the anthesis of that.

 

We had decided to get up early and walk along the River Avon here in York, so come 5am I bounced out of bed (Haha! As if!) and quickly got dressed. As I quickly had a coffee and piece of toast the rain began to fall. It was one of those summer downpours with big fat lazy raindrops that hit the parched dirt and release that wonderful petrichor. These downpours don’t generally last long and this one was no different so we headed out. On arriving at the river it was quiet, very quiet. In fact unnervingly quite. A complete absence of bird sound apart from a rooster making it’s presence known, but, that doesn’t count. It’s very unusual to be out at dawn and not hear birds singing. I thought normal activity would be resumed when the sun broke through the clouds so we carried on walking. A pair of Black-faced Cuckoo Shrikes perched high up in a dead tree gave me something to point my camera at. Not thrilling photos but a start nonetheless. A bit further on and the clouds had now cleared and we were greeted by a brilliant cobalt blue sky and a steady procession of Galahs flying in formation. I managed to get some photos of them. I’d wanted for ages to get a shot of Galahs flying against a back drop of a brilliant blue sky – the contrast of their pink feathers and the blue. Doing something I never normally do I looked at the rear of the camera and when I saw the sequence of photos  I could see that I had achieved that goal. I was at this point feeling rather pleased with myself. The Bible warns us that “Pride comes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) and little did I realise that I was about to become literally acquainted with it.

 

Turning round we walked back the way we had come and then onto a spot where we could access the river bed. As we broke cover from the bushes we set what seemed like every duck in York flying. Whoops! Then I had this urge to see what if anything was around the corner. When suddenly it happened. You know how people often say that when something catastrophic happens time slows down and everything happens in slow motion? Well that didn’t happen. One minute I’m vertical the next bang and I’m prostrate in the mud with incredible pain shooting up my arm and from my hip. Necessity meant that I just lay still for a bit to see if the pain subsided. I quickly realised at this point that I wasn’t seriously hurt because I was more concerned that my camera had survived the cataclysm than about any injuries I’d sustained. I also became aware of the beloved significant other calling out. She had tried to get over to me but hadn’t got very far as she didn’t want to befall the same fate. Gingerly I got onto all fours and crawled to a firmer spot and got up. I was covered from head to toe in evil smelling river mud – my camera wasn’t much better.

Sitting here writing this my camera and I have scrubbed up well. It works perfectly – a testament to ruggedness of Olympus cameras. Me – I’m a bit sore, but there is no major damage.

Note to self: don’t go walking along the river bed just after it has rained – it is very slippy.