winded

 Climb the  stairs up to the entrance to the park with the son. The stairs are of red brick, the gate is a handsome wrought-iron affair. There is a crack running up the centre of the stairway, this may have been flood damage, washing the soil supporting the steps away.

The path up through the park is steep, feel the breath coming in gasps, there is just not enough air getting into these now more than sixty five year old lungs. Rejoice at having given up smoking a quarter of a century ago. The steep climbing footpath now has steps, made of wooden beams backed with gravel. Now the lack of wind is getting worse. panting for air. The son suggests sitting down, refuse. Another fifty metres, then stop, breathing like a steam locomotive at speed. The son is concerned, and hugs his father. He is very kind. Another fifty metres, another short stop. Talk to the son about the light falling on the trees, he is taking pictures. Ask him to look carefully at the contrast, and to find the best angle to show what he wants people to see in his photograph.

And then the air flows into the lungs without effort, is this what they call the second wind? The need to pant has gone, it is possible to climb the rest of the pathway up to the top of the park, there were the animal compounds are.

The son goes over to watch the ducks swim about in their smelly pool, go around the corner to watch the crows.

See the camera collector walking in the distance with his wife. Greet them, the camera collector starts and comes over, he has many thanks for the picture put into his letterbox on the day before Christmas eve.

It is good that he found it there, and it is good that it gave him pleasure. The son, who had seen the picture, recognises the man.

Continue on our way,  talk about trees and later about the war monument. The son is astonished by the amount of names on the monument, the youth of two generations wiped out in two world wars.

Later on, leaving the park, see the camera collector and his wife in the distance. Wave.

They wave back.