44,423 words in 260 moments in 37 cities since September 26th, 2013

So reads the byline on my page on Hi, and I must admit that I find it hard to believe! I know that’s not many words compared to some, but then I’m not a natural writer. I prefer speaking, which I always blame on my mother, who was one of those who could “talk the hind legs off a donkey”, as the saying goes!

As you can see, today marks my first anniversary on Hi. When I started I had no idea whether I would continue - it was just another new site to play around with. But as I got to know the regulars back then and got ideas and inspiration from them, I found that I rather liked the format, and the opportunity to write something away from Facebook and my usual circle of friends.

I tend to have bursts of activity when it comes to writing on Hi. I think there may have been some occasions when I’ve added more than one picture in the same day, but that’s pretty rare, and certainly in recent weeks I feel that I’ve slowed down rather too much. But then life kind of gets in the way sometimes, and work of course. After all, I tend to write these moments during breaks at work rather than at home, so I need to be careful not to spend too much time doing so!

But why the picture of stunning autumnal leaves to mark this anniversary post? I don’t know really, apart from the fact that I love the rich colours. I took the picture last week when my wife and I visited Leeds Castle (yet again!). This has become one of our most favourite places to visit - a beautiful, tranquil setting with an incredible variety of wonderful trees, flowers, birds and other wildlife, plus a magnificent castle thrown in for good measure (see below, and here). What is there not to love about a place like that?!

The one thing I didn’t manage to get a picture of this time was my friend the robin (see here and here). I guess we’ll just have to go back soon to try again!