Health and Safety in Question

This morning Steve carefully placed a waterproof plaster over the wound on my shin that was the result of rushing around like the proverbial Blue Arsed Fly, in the dark, in the garage compound at silly o’clock last Sunday morning.  The need for the plaster was so that I could do my swim today. The swim was ok. Then I had selected a pair of crop tights to run in afterwards so that nothing would rub on the shin. It looked like a beautiful summer day outside but it was still a bit parky, so I wore one thermal long sleeve base layer and a very lightweight jacket for the 5km run loop that we had driven up to Arundel for.

 

Steve makes use of the ‘Parking Angel’ to a degree that I think is bordering on abuse, asking her to save a spot for him either right in front of Osteria or a few yards away in front of Pallant of a Arundel or the Arundel Butchers, both right by the war memorial there at the foot of the hill. She is a sweet lass though and almost always meets this requirement presumably in gratitude to his belief in her powers.

So we pulled up at Pallant to walk across to our start line which is a metal bar in the pavement outside the door of the Post Office. I absent-mindedly wandered straight over it, only to be called back by Steve and accused of false starting.  I asked if that meant a yellow card but he said it was a red card offence.

We started our run anyway, ignoring the fact that I was disqualified, heading off down Mill Lane and along the road side of the moat footpath. Up on the bank in a sunny spot we noticed that the resident Swans had made a nice nest and one of them was sitting there patiently awaiting a delivery and ignoring my friendly greeting as we ran past on the other side of the water.

When we got to the huge metal gates at the entrance to Swanbourne Lake there as a stand off in progress. There were three Canadian Geese standing in a line across the open entrance with their backs to the road and with their heads raised in a toffee nosed fashion, presumably to make themselves look taller and more fearsome to the small army of ducks that faced them.

 Duck spokesman: This is our park and you can’t just waltz in and boss us about.

Centre Goose: WAS your park shorty.

This incensed the group of ducks who began the Coin, coin, coin chorus at top volume fluffing themselves up to greater size.

The geese closed ranks a fraction and held their ground waggling their tails slightly.

We ran along the outside of the railings the last few feet and turned in behind the Geese speaking firmly as we approached.

US: Break it up you lot, don’t you think there are enough wars in the world already?

There was a lot of quack-quack quacking and a bit of Whack-Whacking and more of the silly Coin-coin coining but the war was over for at least a while and a kind of peace was restored.

The rest of the run was uneventful, if you discount gawking at the fabulous scenery there abouts. It really is so pretty but if you are running it is also a hard climb up to the Hiorne Tower, where we were chased and barked at by somebody’s poorly trained dog that we ignored and thought it served the owner right that he had to chase after it to get it back. The dog must have thought that we looked like much more fun than his hapless owner.

 

Our main entertainment this morning however, was that whilst we sat in the low window seats of Osteria drinking our coffee, a work party of Oiks who had been working on the building opposite and had started to take down the three levels of scaffolding. Some were on the top level and one guy was on the street. He was CATCHING what they were dropping down into his skilled hands. Scaffold poles were held from the top level so that the lower end was 8-10 feet above Streetman’s hands and then one by one they were dropped and stacked. Smaller items were being passed through the upper window space. The staff of several establishments around the square stood with their jaw’s dropped in complete awe at this dangerous display but a right bunch of likely lads. The building they were working on was above the towns new burger restaurant.

Once the circus-like spectacle was over we left for home and a couple of hours of office work. All I have on for the rest of the day is a trip to my sports massage therapist which will be painful.