My walking year wasn’t meant to start like this.
*
I had a busy and costly day yesterday.
A dental appointment in the morning – check-up and a difficult molar filling that keeps dropping out and will need some major drilling in the near future.
Physiotherapy appointment at lunch time to assess some abdominal muscular problems, which have completely stopped me from venturing out in 2026 so far. Suspect nerve impingement in my thoracic region. Hopefully not a kidney stone, as my GP’s appointment is in two weeks.
Afternoon – ultrasound scan of my shoulder, which has suffered from the bar stool episode last year. The charming radiologist tells me I have a complete tear of the supraspinatus. No quick fix there.
‘That was the day that was‘, which left me £500 less in my bank account. Having said that, I don’t begrudge a penny of it if it gets me back on the road. (OK, I know I’m lucky to be able to afford it where others may not.)
*
Today, my muscle spasms are less, thanks to the physiotherapist’s strong-arm massage on my back yesterday—time to stop the painkillers. I have watched the blue skies on several days this year and been unable to get outside and enjoy them. By lunchtime, the day is set fair, and I decide to go for my first walk of 2026. My choice of route is modest and local. It has only now struck me that the name of the estate I walk around is Bowland Meadows – serendipity.
I would have been happier in the Bowland Fells, but needs must, and at least the meadows have been granted a local name, although Bowland View would have been more appropriate. The meadows are no more, yet more countryside has been sacrificed for our mad rush to build more houses at whatever cost to nature. Barratt Homes, as the developers, fall back on giving the streets ‘nature-related’ names, as you will see in my photos. Is this to dupe the house purchasers into thinking they are moving to a rural life? What was wrong with Factory Row, Mill Street and Gas Alley? As our natural fauna and flora are being destroyed, the popularity for naming streets after birds, animals, trees and flowers has increased exponentially. There is some perverse psychology at play. Similar to the global companies offering to plant a tree for every pound spent on destroying the planet. It just doesn’t work.
Having said all that, my stroll around Bowland Meadows reveals diverse, pleasant housing, open green spaces, play areas, and a connection to the surrounding countryside, for now at least. And of course, those Bowland Fells will dominate forever.
Let us hope they appreciate the view and the ‘rural life’ they have signed up for.
Let’s also hope for some snowdrops, primroses, and bluebells to brighten their Spring.
At least you got all your appointments done in one day even if your wallet was a few hundred quid lighter.
This isn’t the sort of place I would like to live even with the nature-related street names. Someone in our local planning department has recently seen sense for once and refused an application to build 25 houses on the edge of a green space which is home to several veteran trees. It really saddens me to see more of our countryside and green spaces being eaten up by housing developments so I’m glad this one got knocked back.
Longridge has suffered from overdevelopment in the last few years, with associated problems of traffic, school and medical provision, litter, and antisocial behaviour. I reckon it has doubled in population.
That estate is one of the better ones.
Circumstances have conspired for me also to prevent getting out. If it’s not the weather it is something else. My daughter at one time lived in Grime Street which seems perhaps one step too far to be included in your Industrial Revolution suggestions. My previous residence, now well over twenty years ago, conformed to the modern trend you describe, ’twas Greenacres.
Is there a Holly tree in your road?
We are stuck with our own street name, but house names are generated by an even richer imagination. There is another topic.
I like yours.
Wish you well.. I’ve started the year with arthritic feet, making walking uncomfortable.
That must be unpleasant as one is on them most of the time. Hope something can be done for them. New knees and hips are commonplace – but new feet?
I know. Makes me wary of going up big hills in case I can’t come down.
I enjoy your posts on the river walks in the area.
Thank you. Hopefully warmer drier weather will help.
We’ll all toast to that.
I must explain that my house was so called when I bought it. As it is perhaps my favourite Lakeland peak I was secretly pleased. I would not have been sufficiently pretentious to name it so myself. My neighbour has a thriving holly tree and there is one in my frontage that I have been nurturing from a sprig which now stands about three feet, but none that stand out for all to see as a relevant name for the road.
Paying the bill is the most painful aspect of visiting the dentist these days.
Great photo of those Bowland fells. I must get over that way – but only when its dried up a bit!
The Bowland Fells always show up well.
Thats a lot of flower street names for sure.
Hope you get out and about into the fields and fells soon.
There’s always something – on the mend now just need the blue skies to come back.
Snowdrop Reach? Blimey…that’s a bit of a…reach. Who comes up with these things I wonder?
I had friends who lived in Harrogate where there were a series of streets named after mathematicians. Or at least, there was definitely a Euclid Avenue, which I remember because I liked it so much I took a photo.
On the St. Giles estate in the middle of Lincoln, where my mum grew up, the streets are named after British writers…Browning Drive, Addison Drive, Ruskin Avenue, Burns Gardens etc which I suppose is original at least.
The horrible blocks in Hulme, where I lived for a few years, were named after architects…William Kent Crescent for example. One of our neighbours was of the opinion that these long dead architects who would probably have been appalled by their association with these brutalist monstrosities had actually designed the buildings and were now living it up somewhere a lot sunnier than central Manchester.
I think some guerilla planting is called for , next to those road signs!
We do hope things improve for you BC. Stay cheerful…. like the goldcrest that we watched for an hour or so, foraging for insects on a busy a foot away from our dining room window.
M&S
Thanks. I’m always cheerful like that Goldcrest. It’s the big garden birdcount this weekend – when all my garden birdes disappear.
Was out and about Tuesday – post to come.
BC