Good morning everyone,
There's one word buzzing in my head for the past couple of days and it's freedom. On Friday I made my first visit to do a big shop in over three months and yesterday my husband and I went to the foreshore of Southampton Water to take the breeze and have a walk. It was glorious. Never before had I noticed the ozone in the air so much, or had the seagulls sounded so loud. There was a heavy breeze blowing, and although lots of others were there to enjoy it, it wasn't too difficult to maintain social distancing, so I felt safe and happy too. We walked along the shingle and it was quite difficult after such a long time with not enough exercise.
I've come to appreciate how difficult it's going to be for nearly 68,000,000 people (the population of UK), to safely share the open spaces we have, all at the same time. Compare that to New Zealand, which is roughly the same size as us, and has a population of 5,000,000!
Anyway, going out made me very aware of freedom and how important it is to us all, and how much some people have had to fight for theirs.
I'd looked for quotes on small freedoms but quite rightly they mostly seemed to be about the big struggles, and of all the ones i found, this one appealed most.
"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." - Nelson Mandela -
I very much think that this came from his heart!
I hope you all enjoy your Sunday in whatever way you can.
Photograph: John Paul Henry, Unsplash