Local Sightseeing

Remember by blog from Day 309 last year? Nope. Me neither!

Thanks to the internet however, I can see that I wrote about ‘becoming a Tourist in your local area.’

Today, I want to add to this.

I’ve lived in Castleford for ten years now. So imagine my surprise last week, whereby I agreed to a dog walk with a neighbouring friend, only to discover a gorgeous park, 5 minutes from my house!

Ironically, near the entrance to the park, I met these two – local tourists themselves I imagine, gazing out with wonder over the town beneath their hill. How’s that for meta?!

Aside from blaming my cats for refusing to be walked (and pretty much anything and everything else I’ve ever asked of them) I’m reminded once more that sometimes it’s good to put your tourist hat on. Even (or especially) when you’re in some place completely ordinary; some place that you’ve undoubtedly driven past hundreds of times; some place that you’ve lived next to for the last decade.

When you’re watching a classic Friends re-run that you’ve seen umpteen times, it’s unlikely that you pay as much attention as you would watching something you hadn’t seen.

In the same way, you’re much more likely to be on ‘auto-pilot’, ignorant of your surroundings, when you’re somewhere familiar.

But putting your ‘Tourist hat’ on in your local area doesn’t require the time, money or planning that a holiday does.

And it’s a great way of noticing and appreciating the ‘beautiful ordinary’ around you.