Riding Memories.

The weather is getting wild again with another storm due in on Sunday. It rained during the morning then the wind blew away all the showers.

I had to be up and about promptly this morning as I had a riding lesson booked at 10.00. This time it was the owner teaching us. I didn't know what to expect but it was a good lesson. There were five of us riding and unlike lessons I've had at other riding school instead of riding one behind the other and then being sent off one at a time to do exercises eg 'canter to the rear of the ride' we worked individually. We were given an exercise to do eg ' turn and canter across the arena' which we did in our our time avoiding the other riders. That way we were able to work at our own pace and get the most out of the time. For fun I had a look on line to see if the stables (Lee Valley Riding Centre) I used to have lessons at when I was looking after other people's horses,40 years ago, was still there and blow me down it is. My surprise was for two reasons, firstly the stables are not privately owned but are run by the local council something I have never come across before or since. Secondly when the Olympics was held in London the ice rink venue was built on the marshes right next to the stables and I wondered if the stables might have been turned into something else. But no, they are still there with the addition of livery facilities. I couldn't see their prices for group lessons but the private lessons were nearly double the cost at the local stable here.

After my lesson on Seren I went to the dump and got rid of more bags of garden waste before going on to Morrisons. There I picked up a couple of clematis to fill some gaps in the back garden. They are so cheap and I especially can't resist the ones with bell shaped flowers.

I then went on into town which is full of students about to start the new academic year. Some were with their parents, first years I expect while others were happily wandering around in groups enjoying the start of their new adult lives. Such a shame for those students who began their studies during the lockdown years. Sitting at home watching lectures on your PC is hardly the way to become independent and forge new friendships. Coming home I was caught in a queue of cars waiting to turn into the halls of residence but I didn't mind. Better to go that way and then be able to drive along the coast road at a sensible speed than to take the inland main road and crawl at 20mph for several miles through a strung out village. 

Back home I planted out the clematis and then did some more crocheting.