Juneathon 2017, Day 3 – Let’s find a park

I found two parks today. And a geocache.

I’ve been to both parks before, but not for quite a while and I haven’t walked to them from the direction I did today. I actually covered a fair bit of new territory on my walk.

In my 1st Juneathon blog this year I hinted that quite a bit had changed since January. One major change is that I was evicted from the place I rented in Mumbles. In February I was given 2 months to find somewhere new to live. Thankfully my family rallied round and helped me find a place and to move. It’s a lovely little terraced house, built before the 1880s. But it isn’t in Mumbles. Those of you who’ve read my previous blogs will know that I loved living in Mumbles. It was a way of living in a city without putting up with quite as much of the hustle and bustle of a city. I’d walk out of my door and within minutes I could be down at the sea front looking over the wide expanse of Swansea Bay. And because my landlord had decided to sell up I was suddenly uprooted and forced to find somewhere else to live.

I was very worried about what I would be able to get in the short time that we had to find a place. One problem I have is that technically, as I’m disabled, I fall into the “No DSS” remit. So many landlords refuse to have any tenants who are paid housing benefit or any other form of government based income. I get so annoyed about it because I’ve been disabled since my late teens. I’ve had the same income for years and am highly unlikely to get any better, so shouldn’t theoretically have any change of income in the foreseeable future. As such, surely I’m as good a candidate as anyone in my income bracket, with jobs being as short term as they are?

But it all came good.
I’m now closer to the city center, it’s easier to get to food shops, the sea is no further from me now than in Mumbles and the Kinsale Pool Team have said that I can continue to visit them every so often.
So, from my new home I’m now heading out and exploring.

Today I went to Singleton Park and Brynmill Park via a nearby geocache that I hadn’t found.

A nifty nano at St Paul’s Church

Singleton Park

Ducks at Brynmill Park

Brynmill Park

It was another fantastic day today, improved by the fact that I didn’t get lost on the way to the parks. The two problematic parts of the day came right at the start and at the very end.

At the start as I made my way valiantly up the hill to the cache there was a seemingly endless amount of groups of men walking down the hill. I’ve decided that walking up that hill on a Saturday afternoon just as everyone is deciding to walk down it to go into town for the evening is not good for my health. I try very hard to convince myself that I’m worth something and that I’m entitled to feel good about myself. But if you’re a lone, morbidly obese woman sweating her way up a pavement whilst scores of men dressed up to the nines pass you… well, it wrecked my equanimity somewhat!
And, something I’d like to know is: Where were they all coming from? Why were there no women walking down the hill? If I walked to the very top of the hill would it have been like getting to the end of the rainbow and finding a crock of gold? Would an endless supply of men be mine for the taking? I never found out because I went off to find the geocache instead.

At the end of the day my knees gave up. I was forced to catch a bus part of the way home. I’d really hoped to get all the way back, but nevermind. It was a lovely walk and certainly counts as my Juneathon exercise for today.
But there will be no stretching, squatting or anything else today. I’m done in.

Let’s Find a Park Day: 3.25 mile walk
Steps Taken: 11,802
Difficulty Level: medium