15h August 2016 Doing the duck walk.

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Monday 15th 60F, 15C, breezy with sunny periods between overcast[s]. Early start delivering the car to the garage/workshop for MOT repairs. Took the trike on the tow hook rack and rode back home into the wind. Then changed into my walking gear and tootled off across the fields to the woods. Four Whooper swans flew over silently with a large heron going the opposite way. Returned via the marsh track to massed hilarity from the ducks. The picture shows only about half of them. My arm waving to get them to bunch up a bit for a group portrait fell on deaf ears. 

They must have had spies out because they were already laughing raucously when I was still a good 100 yards from reaching their pond. Once I had arrived they all moved out into the middle and just sat their giggling to themselves. Worse was to come when I gave up trying to stare them out and decided to potter on. The entire marsh erupted into a cacophony of uproarious laughter! It was if a whole school had been taught to simultaneously blow a blade of grass between their thumbs for a Guinness record attempt. I'm taking my SPL meter and ear defenders next time. That's show them I'm not putting up with any more of their nonsense!

On a lighter note: [Mood, not the carnage it causes!] With 1/3 of the world's adult population on antidepressants and other drugs, it is no wonder they can't concentrate on their driving! The side effects, not to mention the alternative reality these drugs cause drivers, ought to be the subject of very serious enquiry. Half the world's driver's seems to go around in a complete daze. With roadworks and parked emergency vehicles regularly on the receiving end of inattentive drivers. Even trees are not safe!

I am literally taking my life in my own hands by leaving home on foot or cycle. I have lost count of the number of near misses while out walking. As drivers swerve away at the very last moment as if my [deliberately chosen] "dayglo" clothing was completely invisible. They often have a long straight to catch sight of my solitary presence walking along right beside the verge. If they can't concentrate hard enough to see me from that distance what hope in hell is there for cyclists, pedestrians and other road users?

Probably one third of drivers use their mobile phones as if they were surgically attached, prosthetic limbs. Even the hands-free sets are proven to radically alter the driver's attention while in conversation. Now add in the GPS, radio, music center, papers, SMS and maps to be read during the journey. Nagging partner, kids, work worries, hangovers, failing relationships and wandering minds all detract from the serious business of driving. Driver-less vehicles make more and more sense as the drug-addled populace can only continue to pretend they have the necessary skills. The driver has an air bag to protect them from their own lunacy and folly. What do other road users have? Only 3 miles today.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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