Blackmoorfoot again — second of the year from that reservoir, the conduit path trainer in January being the first, and the notebook notes the doubling-up with the observation that it happens with the good spots. It does. A reservoir that gives you your first of the year and then summat in November has done a proper shift, and Blackmoorfoot has always been a worker.
Right brogue, oxblood, laces tied, decent condition considering — and 'considering' is carrying the November in that sentence. Oxblood is not a colour the register sees often. Browns and blacks make up the bulk of the sequence, with trainers supplying the greys and whites, and an oxblood brogue on the far bank stands out of the record the way it'll have stood out of the bank. A smart shoe, looked after by somebody at some point. I note that from the leather, not from wondering about the somebody.
The morning were the real entry, if I'm honest. Sharp frost, and the water steaming a bit as the sun got up, which is worth seeing — the book says so plainly, and I remember it, and for once the memory and the book agree in full. Flask conditions excellent. I sat longer than the temperature strictly allowed, egg and cress, and the tea saw me right, which is the flask doing exactly the job it were bought for. The photographs came out well, and the entry offers a piece of craft I'll pass on: frost helps a photograph, I find. It firms the ground, sharpens the light, and gives a dark shoe an edge to sit against. Number 260, oxblood on white frost, steam on the water. Some mornings the register keeps you. That were one.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.