Let’s start with a strange question. Does turfing cause you to dream or rather have nightmares? I found myself dreaming last night, yes dreaming about turfing. I was turfing in an urban city somewhere. It had the open green spaces and rocky areas of Edinburgh but also the stone city walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed where I’d been the other day. I kept finding myself frustrated about locating routes to zones and zones were vanishing as I reached them. I was then asked by a mature lady if I wanted some tea and scones. I accepted but felt very uncomfortable, as she did not seem quite right, like a witch with evil intentions.
The cafe was initially deserted but soon resolved into a packed standing-room only networking event, something I loath. I made my escape but could not find my way back to the car. Then I was walking down this narrow Edinburgh-like back street with scaffolding and builders working. I then seem to find myself on a decked walkway and reach an impossibly long drop with an open ladder. Two builders are in attendance and I ask if they want me to climb down that?
By way of a reply, I was clipped into a harness and pushed down the ladder. But instead of falling, I found myself flying straight outwards, the rope unwinding as I flew through the air. The ladder became a distant speck as I eventually slowed down, the rope then started rewinding and I started to loose height. As I reached some stacked shipping containers, I thought, I’ll fix them (the two lads that is) so unclipped and landed on the stack. These turned out to be stacked lifeboats, not containers.
However, I was now trapped with no way down. It was too high to jump and no handholds. I searched and found some rope and was looking for somewhere to secure the rope when I heard voices. Looked over the edge and saw two people tidying stuff away. Shouted to them but got no reply, so threw some discarded clothing down to then. They looked around and spotted me. Any chance of some rescue, I asked? Then I woke up in a sweat. And went out turfing. Strange but true as they say.
Turf can be so cruel at times. I missed the opportunity for a new zone in Bonnyrigg, missing another FTT for the collection. In fact, I’m sure it was all a conspiracy against me. New zone WilliamsWalk, located on the Dalkeith to Penicuik cycleway, appeared at 19:46 and the worse thing was, at 19:51, I passed within 118m of the new zone on my way to WayOfBaird where I inadvertently gave turfer MuttsCycles a fright (he was wearing ear-plug-phone-thingies). And to make things even more cruel, my turfing arch-rival Hodge spots the new zone from Newbattle and nips across to take it at 20:06 while I’m at home in the house, totally oblivious.
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