Stamford
A town in Lincolnshire, England.
Melancholy Walk - towards the 3rd Meadows
 
The Meadows
      This was one of the great play options for us kids from Northumberland Avenue. You could
      swim here if you were brave enough, and quite a few were. We'd cycle down with Car tyre
      inner tubes around our torsos, jump in and show off all the tricks we'd learnt in the swimming
      pool - which was nearby but costed money, besides the sunshine, splashes and shouts had a
      better feel in the river. In today's environmentally sensitive age people are well aware of the
      health dangers of rivers and no-one  swims there now. The A1 sliced the top end of the
      Meadows in half  but it was built a little before our time and we just accepted the presence of
      all those people whizzing past. I wonder how many of them gazed down and observed our
      adventures and thought of their own precious youth.
      Perhaps time plays tricks, I always imagine that the wild flowers were more numerous than
      they are today and that the sun was brighter and the sky bluer - perhaps it all is when your
      memories are forming and you are imploring your mother and aunt and cousins to take you
      all the way to the third meadows.
      And so you return with the eyes of a grown-up but the present day  lacks the colours of your
      childhood and you walk the river disappointed until, suddenly you see the briefest flash of a
      beautiful blue and you have seen a Kingfisher for the first time - there is still much to
      discover and maybe you have to look backwards to see the present day in a new light.  
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