Sunny Summer Day

I had this post all written. I just needed to add the photos. As I was doing that, I decided to delete one photo and inadvertently deleted the entire post! Needless to say, it took awhile before I could stomach starting again. Okay, let's do this.

I woke Tuesday, July 19, to this forecast:

Highs in the 70s!? Holy cow! The thunderstorms weren't due until late in the evening, so it was a clear, sunny, summery day. Obviously, I had to be out in it. I ended up walking along the river for about an hour. I didn't cover much new ground, so I don't have many photos to share. But I do have a few observations.

A group of rough-looking folks walked past me, bedecked in chains and smoking. The lone female was incredibly skinny. Her eyes bugged out of a gaunt and lined face. Her eyes and ashen complexion gave her a creepy zombie look. The Walking Dead has come to Inverness! 

When I was doing research in England back in 2013, I wrote a blog post about the English aversion to eye contact. In the States, particularly in the South, if you walk by someone going in the opposite direction you usually smile at him and maybe exchange greetings. In England, people do their utmost to pretend you're not even there. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn the Scottish will actually look at you. Some even smile. And one couple actually said hello! However, this behavior seems to be restricted to the over-40s. Younger folk paid no mind. It's nice that there's at least a token amount of friendliness.

Although the sun was very warm - dare I say hot - there was a lovely chill breeze blowing across the river. It made for a very pleasant walk. Sunny days are so few and far between up here that the sidewalks were heaving with people. Several folks sat along the river bank and just about every bench had a person lounging upon it soaking up the rays. And a lot of those people were sleeping. Not lounging with their eyes closed - sound asleep sleeping.

I play Pokemon Go. I'm very casual about it. Half the time I forget about it when I'm outside. I have a bunch of eggs and you have to walk to incubate them. Pokemon Go's GPS clearly has a glitch. When I reached the turnaround point of my walk, I checked my progress. It was 1.1 km. I needed 2. Great. The egg would be hatched by the time I got back. Imagine my chagrin when I got home and my progress was a measly 1.4 km. I'm no math genius, but I'm pretty sure if you've logged 1.1 kilometers at the halfway point of your walk, then you'll have 2.2 and not 1.4 when you're finished. Grumble.

Here are a few photos from my jaunt:

I didn't go for my river walk until the afternoon. That morning, I popped down to the bank. As you can see, it was already a glorious day.

I liked looking up the street and seeing the hills in the background. Will that ever get old? You can see a couple of people lounging on the river bank.

Here's the front of the Ness Bank Church of Scotland. I mentioned it in an earlier blog and noted its construction date was not mentioned on its web page. My history friend, Amanda, did some digging and learned it was built in 1901. (Thanks, Amanda!) So not all that old by British standards.

These are Faith, Hope, and Charity (though not in that order - it's actually Charity, Faith, and Hope). The statues were commissioned for the new YMCA building that was begun in 1868. The Y was demolished in 1955 (probably to make way for some ugly concrete box), and the statues were moved to the Burgh Surveyors yard. They were purchased by an antiques dealer in 1961. The City Of Inverness bought them in 2007 and they were placed here. A ceremony celebrating their return was held in October 2011.

Oh, and if you're interested, this is also a PokeStop.

I don't know what kind of flowering tree this is, but the flowers smelled lovely. As I walked under it, I was promptly enveloped in sweetness.

Walking back on the opposite bank.