It is at times like this when I realise just how lucky I am to live where I do. Although I live and working in quite an urban environment, surrounded by noise , by buildings, cars ... the general sights and sounds of any town or city .... escape from all this, if I wish, is not far away. Walk 30 minutes from my house or workplace, and you can find yourself at the seashore / beach, watching the waves roll in and breaking on the shore. and breathing in that fresh sea air ( ... a slight downside is that the beaches are covered with pebbles, not sand, in this part of the coast ... but you can't have everything .. ;-) ). Travelling a little further, and by car, it is only a 30 - 45 minute drive inland and you can be standing on top of Portsdown Hill, with a commanding view over the whole of the harbour area and beyond - to the South across the Solent, the Isle of Wight ; to the east , towards Hayling Island and to the west , towards Southampton Water. Travelling just a little more inland, and you can find yourself surrounded by rolling farmland and countryside, of fields a blaze of yellow rapeseed flowers or full of lush green young plants ... of small villages amongst the patches of woodland.... ( and, unfortunately, in between the major roads and motorways ... ) . Yes, I'm very lucky to have all this on my doorstep, and the good weather only enhances the beauty of it all - after all, everything looks better in the sunshine. I hope it will always be like this , but I know it will not be ... the march of progress continues unabated , as the towns and cities around here grow to merge into each other in a mass of concrete and tarmac. So I'm counting my blessings now , while I can ......
