The Road Not Travelled
I did something really stupid and dangerous this morning, but I'm here to tell the tale.
You see, they're building this new link road between Insches and Milton of Leys to the south of Inverness. Supposedly it will take traffic off the A9 and, in lieu of a circus or fun-fair, a lot of us locals were looking forward to its grand opening.
OK, just me then.
The recent snowfalls have obviously delayed the final stages of the construction and I sugested Ö÷²¥´óÐã Scotland's online reporter, Steven MacKenzie, that this might make a small news story for our local website. I even promised him some photographs.
So, at nine o'clock this morning, my car was fish-tailing through the snow and slush and then I was on foot, trudging through shin-deep mounds of the white stuff to reach the perimeter of the building site.
There's a small burn just at that point and a ten foot incline at the side of the fence. But there was a lampost in my field of view and I had to inch closer and closer to the top of the burn to get an unobstructed view of the pipes and diggers.
Suddenly I had a vision of myself lying at the foot of that slope, drenched in ice-cold water and scrabbling with ungloved hands to make my way back up to the road. I doubt I would have made it. I could have laid there, undiscovered, for hours or days.
Sure, I had a shrink-wrapped packet of Kabanos sausages in my anorak pocket (who doesn't?) but how long would that have lasted? At my usual rate of consumption we're talking about three or four minutes at most.
But I got the photos and gave them to Steven. All he has to do now is find the news story to match them.
That's the easy part.
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