To begin with the morning showed little promise, it was cold, I had slept badly and I knew that in spite of the bad weather I would have to go to town to pick up a prescription from the doctors surgery.. Having packed my son off to bed, he bed, he had arrived home late due to problems with the trains, I began the daily round of getting Pa up and giving him breakfast, I was to be honest feeling rather sorry for myself .
Breakfast cleared and off I went , cold does not come close to describing the freezing wind which blew in my face all the way to town. I was well wrapped up, four layers deep, a huge scarf wrapped around twice, gloves and a fur hat to cover my ears, I even put a woollen rug over my knees, all to no avail. Well before I reached town I was so cold that my brain felt numb.
At the surgery I met with confusion over the prescription which took time to sort out, time was short and I fumed inside as I waited for the receptionist to deal with the snarl up. At last it was done and I sallied forth again in to the frozen world out side.
I decided to pick up a few bits and pieces from Morrison's, I had meant to go to Tesco again but there was not time and besides I wanted to get out of the cold . Luckily they had almost everything I needed and as I queued at the check out I dumped in to a good friend whom I have not seen for some time and we swaqpped news as we waited to be served. Having arranged for her to pay us a visit next week we went our separate ways and I began the journey home.
This time the wind was behind me and felt less fierce that before. I turned off the road and headed through the lane down to the house, the fields were scorched by the frost and the puddles in the lane were turned to ice which cracked as the buggy drove over them.
Suddenly to my right I heard a sound that stopped me dead on my tracks, I thought I must be dreaming but no, there it was again. I looked across the frozen fields and there they were, a small flock of Green Plovers (Lapwings), I was amazed to find tears trickling down my face. These beautiful birds were common when I was a child living in the country side, there strange unmistakable rolling flight was always a joy to watch and their bubbling call a constant back ground to the sound track of my childhood. I pulled over to the side of the lane and impervious now to the cold wind watched these little miracles dip and roll over the fields calling to each other the while,
As I watched a larger group flew in and joined the small flock. It has been twenty years or more since I heard the sound of their call and I was unprepared for its effect. I was sad and yet overjoyed all at once, I could have stayed there all day. Then without warning they rose into the sky, wheeled round once and flew off out of sight.
They were of course migrants caught out by the sudden cold and taking food as they found it along the way. These birds of rare now, even in rural areas as they do not take kindly to modern farming practice, to encounter them today seemed like a miracle to me,it change the colour of the day and made it memorable, I returned home felling very happy.
Perhaps I shall see then again, perhaps not, all I know is that today, when I needed a small bright spot in my day they were there and I am the richer for having seen them.
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