Turf zone – Eskbank
It’s been rather quiet on the turfing front this past week or so. This was almost entirely down to the discovery that digging trenches in the garden, lugging heavy bags of Type 1 hardcore and laying paving slabs are not exactly good for my poor old back, no matter how carefully I try to do things. So, as far as turfing goes just the bare minimum of takes to keep the up the Daily-5, until my back settles down again, cycling and kick scooting are off the cards and even walking needs to be done carefully. But I’ll get there eventually, I hope. Just need to be careful and take my time.
But first, I had a nice chat with a local policeman the other day and raised the topic of kick scooting on pavements. He agreed that there was no law against riding a kick scooter on the pavement, as there is for riding a bicycle. But what he did mention was that while there wasn’t actually any law prohibiting kick scooters, you can still get into trouble, for example, for reckless kick scootering or colliding with pedestrians, etc. Looking online I also found that even running without due care and attention can potentially cause issues. The simple answer is good old common sense. Give way to pedestrians, get off and walk, just be sensible.
Another related topic I asked about was on the topic of cycling on pavements, when does a pavement become a footpath? It seems that if the pavement is immediately next to the carriageway it’s classed as part of the carriageway and therefor as a pavement, and hence no cycling. But what if there’s a gap between the carriageway and the pavement? And how wide a gap does it have to be before it becomes a footpath? No clear answer to this one. So, if there are any legal minded turfers reading this please drop me a line.
Back to the Daily-5. I must admit to almost giving up on the Daily-5 after getting the Daily-180 medal. I was all set not to go turfing the next day, to let the Daily-5 lapse, and not have that burden always at the back of my mind. Thankfully, I did continue with my Daily-5. I guess I was feeling a bit on the low side with my aching back but I’m still hanging in there and my back will get better over time. Will just have to pay someone else to do the back-breaking heavy stuff in the garden.
I do miss being able to get out on the bicycle for a quick blast round all 40 or so zones in Bonnyrigg, then out again in the afternoon to add Dalkeith and Newtongrange. I tried to turf Bonnyrigg the other day but had to retire about half way round due to my aching back. Most annoying, I can tell you. But, on the bright side, it’s quite a nice change to simply wander about on foot, taking a few zones here and there, no rush, no worries. Taking the time to see what wildlife is about, do a bit of cloud spotting and a few other of my many other interests as well. Found a MAC BRAND brick near zone EskPath in Eskbank, a new brickmark for the list.
Today was a fun turf day. We – that’s myself and Cathryn a.k.a. ChoccyMuffin – went down in the train to Galashiels to see The Great Tapestry of Scotland and the Grayson Perry exhibition – The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope. Personally, I was originally thinking why would you want to see a great big boring tapestry. However, it is quite an impressive piece of work and the coffee shop does a half-decent scone and coffee. But that wasn’t the fun part. The fun part was actually turfing on the train. It was amazingly exciting. Will the train stop in the zone? Are we on the part of the train that will stop in the zone? Have we got time to run into another carriage or two? We didn’t have much luck on the way down but manage two stations on the way back. I hate to think what the other passenger thought of our antics. Back soon.
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