It looks sunny said BestMate we should go for a walk but where so I suggested somewhere and he said where's that and I said you should know because it's very near where you used to live and he said oh yes well let's go and walk that then and we can end up at my parents' house and I said don't worry I've already blogged about it so I won't need to keep stopping to take photographs we can just walk it and so that's what we did.
It was sunny when we met up at the tube station and then we took the bus and look he said that's where I used to work when I was a teenager and that's where my mum used to work when it was a shoe shop but it's a phone shop now and then we passed the end of her road and I said I can't believe I'm on this bus again and eventually we got to the right bus stop and the sun was shining on the big house and we found the way in past the restaurant and the gardens were popular with toddlers and the field was full of people walking lots of dogs and one dog was waiting beside the fence and when a train came it barked and barked and ran down towards the bridge and it took us ages to get to the other side and the main road was busy and I said sorry we're only going this way to see the very beginning and here it is and I'm not sure the diversion was worth it.
It was still sunny and we found the footpath by the footbridge and he said the school through the fence had a really good cricket pitch and I said it's lucky the signposts are very good and he said I think we'll be walking past the bakery that does the gypsy tarts later on and I said these are lovely old concrete lampposts and he said actually this estate is quite nice I could live here and I said mind where you're stepping and he said sorry my lace has come undone and then we crossed the main road and entered the woods and I said this is the best bit of the walk and he said this is where we used to go on cross country runs and it was muddy through here and our sports kit was white or at least it was to start with and I hated cross country because it wasn't rugby and I said I hated rugby because it wasn't cross country and there were a lot more dogs here.
It was really sunny and then we came to a park and its playground was empty and we discussed restaurants and how you check whether walls are officially soundproofed and Brexit and the lack of rainfall recently and then we got to the stretch that was really muddy last time but it wasn't really muddy this time and I said that's lucky but it was still just as well we'd worn our walking boots and I wondered if we were near the bakery with the gypsy tarts but we weren't yet and then there was a choice of which way to go because a golf course was in the way and he wasn't quite sure which way the cross country had gone at this point but maybe the golf course was more open back then and we decided to turn left and I had never been here before and he had come here every day.
Look that's my old school he said and that building over there was for the Sixth Form and I don't recognise the new building in front and all my lessons were in the old building behind and the bully never troubled me again after I hit him and this is really strange because I've never had an excuse to come back before and I don't know where my favourite rugby pitch went and only the sixth formers were allowed to leave the premises during the day but there wasn't a fence back then we just didn't dare go anywhere and nobody liked the headmaster and I don't recognise that building either and where are all the pupils it looks so empty and this is really strange.
It was sunny by the lake and the ducks looked cold and he said I guess that must be an orangery and I said I had no idea what the old house was used for now and he said I never walked home from school this way it was too far and I said I think we have to turn right here and he said blimey this is where I took my driving test and I said the roads are perfect for that and he said I'll just ring my mum and tell her we're getting closer and I said we're now back on the main route again and he said the cross country also came through here and I said he was lucky there were no hills and he said sorry my lace has come undone again and I said look there's a river coming in from the left and he said I never knew that and I said actually that's not a river coming in from the left that's coming up later.
Then we came to another park and he said can we break off here because the bakery that does the gypsy tarts is just up the road so we went just up the road to the parade and it was a much longer parade than I was expecting and he said I'm not sure which one is the bakery maybe it's closed down so we walked along the parade until we found a bakery with an old sign above the door and decided it must be this one but when we went inside there weren't any gypsy tarts and the baker said oh no we have never sold gypsy tarts and he said it in an Eastern European accent and I noticed that he couldn't spell Vienniess whirls so I decided this must be a new bakery in old premises and we had a caramel slice instead and that was delicious but it wasn't a gypsy tart.
The sun was just above the rooftops and we were soon back on track past some woods and we found the place where the river really did come in from the left and I said look at all those catkins and he said I just need to make another phone call and I said that is a lot of footbridges and he said look at the funny eyes on that duck and I said blimey and he said let's not walk all the way to the end and I said I'm not sure how we find our way out of this playground and he said I have never been up this road before I thought it only had five houses and I said why does everyone have artificial globes of foliage dangling outside their front door these days and he said it had been a good walk and then we went to his parents' house and had cup-a-soup and cheese and pickle sandwiches and then we went home.
