lunch in chichester

Cold and crisp here in Chichester today, and sunny for the first half hour of my lunch. I went for a walk down by the canal and was surprised to find that the grass around it was freshly cut; the smell of cold cut crass is out-of-place in November, and refreshing. And of course when you cut grass wet it turns into a kind of paint, so the path was criss-crossed with mossy green lines.

When I was walking back I glanced down and saw a worm on the pavement in front of me, and had a peculiar moment of disgust, as if it was something horrible. Perhaps because it was still and therefore perhaps dead. But I looked again and it was a snapped grey elastic band, a thick one, and not a worm at all. So, odd that I thought it was, and odd that I was disgusted. I'm not worm mad, but I don't mind the little blighters.

I had a bitty lunch hour. At one point I suddenly remembered a very vivid dream which must be ten years old, where I was forced to drive around North London doing various errands, the novelty being that I can not drive. It wasn't a particularly exceptional dream, but I remember it very vividly indeed, almost as if it was a real memory.

And lastly, and rather less poetically, I note that the road sign just past work, which normally reads 'CANAL PLACE' has been vandalised. Someone has tipp-exed out the first letter. Not much to do in Chichester, but you've got to hand it to the kids; they find ways to amuse themselves.