Great British Escapades: 30 Days Wild: Day 4

Thursday, 4 June 2015

30 Days Wild: Day 4 - Don't look down...

...unless it's too look at ducks or daisies.

Back in the day, when trains were first invented, the Victorians undertook their journeys with a sense of adventure. They craned their necks to look out of the windows as they sped through the countryside eager and excited to see new things. I travel on trains a lot and very few people these days look out of the windows, except to see what station they're passing through.

Heads around the carriage are buried in laptops, tablets, smartphones and the occasional book as the countryside slips past unnoticed. We can use our tech to be amazed by scenery on the other side of the world and completely miss what's happening in our own back yard.

Not too wide of the mark...

And once we're off the train and on the regular trudge to the office things don't improve. Many people walk along with their eyes glued to the pavement, or their smart phones, oblivious to the world around them. We're already nearer to life on the spaceship in Wall-e than we care to admit, it's just the hover-chairs that are missing.

All this is why my #30DaysWild challenge today has been to not look down at the laptop or the pavement but to look up and see what's going on around me. Some days I know I have "glamorous" assignments, which might make this easy, but not today - today I was making a journey to the heart of Leyland, not a bad place but fair to say it's not a place that immediately leaps to mind when you suggest heading for the wild outdoors. So here's how my day panned out...