Saturday, October 01, 2011

On a Hot October Morning

The Communist loved Roundhay Park, Leeds' huge Victorian park. As a child his family used to have day trips to the park from the slums where they lived and it was the Communist's ambition to live near it. He achieved this at the age of thirty-six, when my parents bought the house where we live now, and he never wanted to move ever again.

The Communist visited the park every week or so. But in his whole life he never experienced a day like today, because there never was an October day as warm as this in his lifetime.

The people of Leeds were making good use of it this morning.

Walkers in the dappled sunshine by the lake:

Ducks and geese being fed until they could barely stay afloat:

Keep-fitters on the grass:

and others running up and down the hill which used to lead to the open-air swimming pool which closed in the Seventies (sighhh! I'd have been swimming in it today!)

Children in kayaks on Waterloo Lake:

and others learning how to fall out, and then - hopefully - how to get back in again:

The beautiful, mature trees that I've known all my life, and that the Communist knew all his life:

The tranquil walks by the lake:

And, in the dappled sunshine, the seats where the Communist, in his old age, used to sit for a little rest on his slow stroll round the lake. "Shall we stop for a while, Daphne? I'm not as young as I used to be, you know."

I missed him there this morning.

8 Comments:

Blogger Yorkshire Pudding said...

A nice post Daphne. The fact that you still enjoy a park that your father loved surely strengthens your connection with him. As a communist, I suspect that he eschewed the idea of an after life but people do live on in the hearts and minds of those who loved them. And they help us to get by.

6:07 pm  
Blogger mutikonka said...

Nice to see Roundhay Park looking as nice as ever. My parents used to take us there and I would love to amble around the lakes again in the spring.

12:46 pm  
Blogger Jennytc said...

How lovely to have a place where you can re-live the memories.

9:50 pm  
Blogger David said...

Roundhay Park was the site of my daughters first attendance at a concert aged 9 months & her last picnic in Yorkshire aged 2.5 years.
It has a very special place in my heart ...

10:21 pm  
Blogger Daphne2 said...

On Sunday I took the dog for a lovely walk in Farnley Park which is about 1/100 the size of Roundhay Park but very pretty in the sushine. The beginning of the walk was marred by prickly chestnut shells sticking into my feet. I wondered idly why this had never happened before until I realised that I was wearing sandals and bare feet in October when in "normal" weather conditions I'd have been wearing trainers or boots. A small pitfall associated with the strange weather we are experiencing nowadays.

6:49 am  
Blogger JeannetteLS said...

What a lovely spot. You pick parts of your beautiful country that Americans think of as English... in the most nostalgic way possible, we think of your England.

New England has beauty and then some, please don't mistake me. But I think it's something about the pace we feel in some of the pictures.

But I digress before I even start! It's strange indeed how both sides of the Atlantic are experiencing too much warmth for the month. Hmmm... Gee. Maybe global warming's not a ruse.

I must wander through your blog some more.

9:35 pm  
Blogger Daphne said...

Thank you so much for your comments, everyone - they are very much appreciated.

10:23 pm  
Blogger Debby said...

I liked this a lot. Thank you for sharing.

6:00 pm  

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