Mood Confounder

I was fully prepared to be in a real stinker of a mood yesterday morning. I had a late shift at work on a Sunday, I woke up later than intended and discovered upon waking that I would have to leave the house earlier than intended as London Transport was doing it's very level best to prevent anyone in the Charlton and Greenwich area from using either train or tube due to the ever-present Sunday engineering works*. Add to this the fact that I now didn't have time for lunch before I left and I was fully armed for a suitably pissy and irritable mood.

All of which was dispelled by the bus ride to the nearest station with a functioning train service. As the bus swung around across Blackheath, there came into view a large selection of fully wrapped-up people taking advantage of the blustery day to unpack their kites and go for a bit of a fly. I'd completely forgotten this about Blackheath. When we were young, we often used to come up to the 'Heath on a Sunday, generally combined with a visit to Nana (whose flat the Bro, Mrs Bro and I now live in), and watch the model boaters on the pond and the amateur kiters on the grass. As a warm wave of nostalgia washed over, it was impossible to truly maintain any semblance of a foul mood.

Particularly impressive amongst the kiters** was the group of around six guys who all were clustered together with matching kites and were treating any onlookers to some some superb formation kite flying. They were making shapes, swooping out at once and turning back in again together - all very impressive stuff. A little further along, there were four other guys also with matching kites attempting the same thing but, quite frankly, the original six shat all over them.***

I've always said that Blackheath was a nice place to live but mainly in summer. It's nice to be reminded that home can offer up unexpected delights in the depths of a particularly cold winter, too.



* Alright, I know the rationale for them doing essential maintenance work at the weekend when the network is far less congested but... I have to go to work, dammit!

** Is that how they refer to themselves? It is now.

*** Not literally, obviously. That would have spoiled the nostalgia wave somewhat.