where art collides philosoperontap

V pleasant short stroll around some of the attractions of Lincoln History weekend yesterday afternoon. Met Ajax in front of the Cornhill and spent a minute or two looking at the Norman encampment. The lad had brought Monty the dog with him as wife Sue was away with their daughter on a luxury holiday in Tenerife, or Lanzarote, or somewhere like that. He did tell me. Monty was the champion of champions at last year’s Heckington show. This had a lot to do with the fact that when the judge had finished looking at all the section winners she admitted she could not choose and asked the audience. The hound with the loudest cheer would be declared winner. There were quite a number of our camping lot watching and Monty took the title by a country mile.

The Norman stuff only needed two minutes tbh. Then we mosied towards the Posterngate where we were meeting Jezzer. En route there was a queue forming outside the Stonebow which is a v historic building. As we were early we stopped with a view to quickly nipping in for a skeet. However the doors were locked and the people stood outside said that it was open at 10:30 and 2pm. Huh ok. Thought it would be open all day, it being History Weekend an all.

On we continued to our intended destination passing Jezzer on the way, sat on a bench along Saltergate. At the door to Posterngate Ajax was informed that Monty wasn’t allowed in. Jezzer, who had already been inside whilst he was waiting for us, offered to look after Monty whilst we went and did the history bit. Was interesting enough but really only a five minutes job. 7 mins max if you wanted to read all the fairly informational but clearly well past their best boards. One sign referred to something that was going to be updated in 2007 or 2014 or similar!

We climbed, blinking eyed back into the sunlight and as it was still not quite two decided to check out the Stonebow which should shortly be opening. There were more people waiting and we asked the old bloke in the council shirt and tie who was clearly an official what the scoop was. He didn’t understand “scoop” so I rephrased the question. The tour was free but you had to have booked and it was full. This surprised me as it didn’t seem to fit with the nature of all the other History Weekend attractions which were walk ins. 

Turned out the guide didn’t even know it was History Weekend and the 10:30 and 2 were their normal opening times. If we hung around we might have some noshows which would mean we could go in. However when he said it was a 45 minutes gig we decided that this didn’t fit with our extremely slack schedule and moved on.

It was at this point, when we were discussing the Steep Hill challenge ahead and why couldn’t we have arranged to meet at the top of the hill which would have better suited Jezzer and me, that Ajax declared that dog Monty being quite old wouldn’t make it up the hill and that we should repair to the Royal William IV pub on the Brayford to discuss. We spent the rest of the afternoon sat in pleasant sunshine outside the pub talking about things historical, I think.

At five thirty I declared a need to get home to cook dinner and left them to it. The Uber picked me up 100yds away at the corner of Lucy Tower Street and was already there waiting for me by the time I got there. The app had said it would be three minutes but once confirmed it said it really meant 1 minute which is the waiting time the expedited more expensive fare was going to be. I’ve got wise to that ruse. Anyway getting an Uber was a no brainer with the fare at £3.97 compared with the busfare of £3 and I wouldn’t have to walk to the bus station and stand around waiting. Uber driver Hassan got me home in plenty of time to season the steaks and warm up the grill.

This morning we are off to Wirral to see family and thence to Chester for a night out with @Barbara and George. Before we go will have to water the wildflower meadow even though it rained most of the night. Better safe than sorry innit.

Ciao amigos.

Oh, and no fox but seven separate visits over the whole night by the hedgehog at the Raised Beds and a couple of nattering Robins shortly after daybreak.

Coast to Coast Day 3 2016.

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Fox came 09:35

This morning it was decreed (by me) that I would have a substantial breakfast. Breakfast is often said to be the most important meal setting you up for the rest of the day. This wasn’t the case in 18th century farming communities in Carmarthenshire where lunch was the biggie but there again I live in modern Lincolnshire in the 21st century. I digress. I had fried potatoes, mushrooms, tomato, fried bread, sausage, bacon and toast. Using some stuff up from the fridge. Will not need feeding again until I stick a steak on the barbie tonight.

Typically I only go full Lincolnshire these days at the weekend. Now I am sat in my conservatory, doors open, recording birdsong. Nothing too exotic at the moment. Sparrer, robin, blackbird, wren and blackcap. The latter is new this season. As I write a dove has appeared on the list. I don’t count wood-pigeon. Pests. THG has departed for her park run and I am pondering the day ahead. 

I was awake at dawn, 5ish, and by five thirty up and at it in the conservatoire looking at the butter industry in Carmarthenshire in the 1700s, fwiw. Then followed some additions to the list of documents to see when I am in West Wales at the end of the month. I’ll be calling in on a long lost cousin I never knew I had but who got in touch having seen my family tree stuff. We will be heading to some cemeteries looking at gravestones and also to the Felin Obaith woollen mill, now defunct, at Rhiwadar. On day two I’ll be in the National Library of Wales. I like doing this kind of stuff. Problem is Carmarthenshire is a long way away.

It is History Weekend in Lincoln. Last night THG and I went to the cathedral to hear a David Olusoga lecture. V good fair play. Gave some interesting insights including the fact that when a French division was allowed to lead the parade after the liberation of Paris in WW2 they took out any non white colonial troops and replaced them with any white soldier they could lay their hands on. Outrageous but shows you the attitudes of the times.

Today I am off to see the Roman Posterngate with Ajax. The Posterngate is rarely open to visitors but is the gate by which people entered Roman Lincoln from the south before they climbed the hill to the main bit. Afterwards we are indeed going to climb Steep Hill and peruse the attractions laid on for the weekend. Roman market, mediaeval encampments and that sort of thing. Stuff like that anyway.

Yesterday was the perfect spring day reaching 25 or 26 degrees centigrade. I set up the irrigation system in the greenhouse. Something that is an annual job as I take the solar powered pump in over winter. I also got the little water fountain back up and running in front of the deck. It kept slowing down but I realised this morning (actually whilst lying awake in bed – funny what you think about innit) the pump probably needs cleaning so that is a job for today. Today is a little cooler at nineteen and overcast but still comfortable. Supposed to rain tonight which is much needed. 

Finally, for now, we had a fox at 21:57 (Raised Beds) and hedgehog at various times between ten to nine and ten past four including once at the Lake.

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Day 2 C2C 2016.

Bit of a dead rubber day tomorrow. Was looking at imps coverage in my facebook stream including the odds on various scores for the last game of the season away at port vale. Tis a little surprising that lincoln are only 6 to 1 to win one nil as opposed to lower odds considering they are runaway winners of the league title and port vale are relegated. Maybe there isn’t enough money being bet on the game. Maybe they think the team has been out on the lash celebrating since last weekend and will be on reduced capacity.

Rewind. Just looked it up to check and Lincoln are actually odds on faves to win. However having gone to the effort of typing that first paragraph on my phone I’m going to leave it there as it would otherwise have been a complete waste of effort 🙂 

I have an event free calendar today, yay. Do have a few bits and bobs to get on with. Then might meet a couple of the lads in the Bail for a coffee. Got to stay off the pop as we are off to see David Olusoga in the cathedral ce soir. THG doesn’t want me to nod off in the middle of his talk. Honestly as if I would do that.

Actually I do have form when it comes to nodding off. We went to see a history lecture at the Collection a few years back. It was so boring that two or three of us did nod off. There had been lunch beforehand and that might have involved a glass of wine.

Just finished a pleasant enough breakfast of a bacon sandwich and half a grapefruit. The bacon, Waitrose “extra thick” was in my mind really just about the minimum acceptable thickness for such a delicacy. The stuff you get in the supermarkets these days is often so thin you have to handle it very carefully to avoid it coming apart. Pathetic really. Pathetic that people will buy it even.You don’t actually get much choice in many emporia. It is often the case of just how thin do you want it?

Fox came at 19:38 last evening whilst I was just finishing golf and then the hedgehog variously from nine oh five pee em onwards. What was interesting is that the fox was caught again on camera at 04:55 (Raised Beds) and 05:00 (Lake). The earlier video is in darkness but only five minutes later in full daylight at the lake. This is either down to the differences in cameras or during the first vid it was very much in nighttime mode and in the second there was enough daylight to switch it over to daytime mode. Whatever the answer it tells us that dawn was at 5am or just before on this day, 1st May 2026 CE.

Pinch and a punch…

Magpies creating a racket in the holm oak behind the shed. Their call is very abrasive. Merlin picked up a siskin this morning. This is a new one and tbh I was somewhat suspicious that the app had made a mistake. However I googled it and indeed siskins are to be found in Lincoln so I’m inclined to add it to the flock of recorded avian species.

There is also big news from the lake. The one surviving aquatic plant we bought from the Wirral Aquatic Centre (or similar) for the then upside down dustbin lid pond is emerging from the deep. The lid lake was long since discarded in favour of the current magnificent watery expanse. The four plants procured cheaply in the end of season sale turned out to need much deeper water than the dustbin lid could provide and did not thrive. The one survivor was put in place in the deep water of the new lake and having died back has over wintered well and would appear to be thriving. The label is still in place and after wiping away the accumulated dirt has revealed itself to be a Butomus. The RHS has photos and I am excited that this will fit well into the natural environment. All the photos I can find require attribution or are copyrighted so I’ll wait until this one flowers to show you.

Lots happening. Off now to install the irrigation system in the greenhouse. Ciao amigos.

Quiet day on the wildlife front with one fox visit at around twenty past midnight this morning and a couple of hedgehog sightings at ten to eleven pm and twenty to two am. Interesting how some nights they can be very active but on others spend it all in someone else’s garden. Not seen a muntjac for a while. I wonder if it smells the scent of fox and stays clear.

Was discussing the fox with “Tony next door” and “Karen down the road” on the bus home from town. I’d been for lunch at the White Horse with @Phil and @Keith. A good pint of TT Landlord fair play although I made a mistake in ordering the spicy fries with the burger. Should have gone plain. £18 for burger and a beer was not bad with a £2 upgrade to the house special burger though tbh I’d probs have been fine with the regular cheese job. Settled for a simple fish finger sandwich for dinner later.

Not v often I join the great unwashed on the bus home from town. Had planned to walk but you know what it’s like once you’ve had a beer. That basically wrote the rest of the day off although I did squeeze in a conference call with Tracey and Manuel at four pm. You will be pleased to know that the guided tour of Pompeii has been sorted. Our man Marco from Milan gets all the credit.

Have removed to my conservatory before breaking the fast this morning as it is such a nice sunny day out. Bodes well for the golf this afternoon although it is no guarantee of a good score. Also great growing conditions for the meadow. It gets watered every day and the greenery is really starting to come along nicely.

My Facebook timeline reminded me that ten years ago today I had arrived in St Bees in Cumbria for the start of the coast to coast walk. Was a beautiful sunny day in total contrast with the next day which was a raging storm. Maybs I’ll share pics of that walk over the next fortnight.

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Popped down to Antonio’s barbers but there was a queue so I thought I’d pass. I do need a haircut but will have some time to kill in Liverpool at the weekend and can get shorn there.

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Full moon tonight driving back from golf. I got best gross and a birdie but won no coin. Being the end of the month the handicaps get reworked. Lost two balls which is unusual for me. Another fox visit at 19:38.

Bright and breezy morning in the shire. Sunny but an easterly wind adding a bit of an edge. I’m hoping to nail the Pompeii tour today having got Marco from Milano involved. If need be Carolina from Sorrento is available to help. THG has already been out to water the greenhouse plants and I shall liberally drench the meadow en route to the shed a little later on when I’ve finished my cup of tea. You can’t rush a cup of tea yanow.

A busy night on the wildlife front though nowt around the lake for which Brian must be quite relieved after the previous night incident where the fox is suspected to have kicked him over. No proof. Just circumstantial evidence. All the action was at the Raised Beds where five separate hedgehog visits were recorded starting at eleven pm and ending shortly after four in the morning. I suspect he made the garden his hunting ground for most of the night. Three fox visits between five to seven when I was actually in the shed and one in the morning.

Today I am doing lunch with @Phil and @Keith. White Horse on Hungate. Not been in since it was the Tap and Spile. Will be easy enough to get there but will be tackling Spring Hill on the way back. I’ll probs take the route through Michaelgate to Castle Hill. Might even wander into the chateau for a gander. No rush, as long as I get the Pompeii stuff sorted before I go plus a few other bits.

Btw the grapefruit spoon is back in action with a vengeance. Great to have it back 🙂

Bit of a rush on this morning. Someone organised a conference call for 08:30. AM. Honestly! Just chucked some clothes on and now finishing off the last bit of bacon under the grill. The simple things in life.

In the shed by ten past eight ish, cup of tea in hand. Each morning I now stop at the bottom of the wildflower meadow and take a photo. It will be good to be able to put together a timelapse video of the growing meadow. Won’t be perfect as the camera angle will change from day to day but it will be good enough.

Due to a North Easterly wind tis a little cooler today which suits THG as she is off out with the Pink Ladies Running Club. They meet every Tuesday morning in the Waitrose car park if yer interested. Yesterday’s forecast rain did not appear which was a bit of a shame. It must be a few weeks now since we’ve had rain. The farmers will be starting to get worried. No rain is, however, good for honey bees. One of the participants in the Monday afternoon pilates class is a beekeeper. She said the bees loved this time of year with so much apple blossom around. Rain ain’t good for apple blossom, apaz. Makes sense. I am optimistic that we will have a good crop this year.

My other farming activity is the grapevine which has very much started to sprout. We have never been very successful with growing grapes but last year I was given a tip that will hopefully sort it out. Once the new growth has reached a certain length you trim the ends off. The plant thinks it is under threat and pushes out lots of flowers and we all know what that means. I think these are eaters rather than drinkers but that will be good. We would never get enough grapes off our one vine to make wine anyway.I just hope the harvest will be after we get back from Malta in September. Would be just our luck for them all to ripen and get eaten by birds when we are away.

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Just to let you know I’ve spent most of the afternoon so far trying to book group tickets for Pompeii. You can book ten tickets online but our group is 38 people so I need to do it differently. You also have to provide names of everyone in the group! Group bookings usually get faster entry so it is worth doing.

Now this is a lot harder than it sounds. First of all I have to sign a contract with an organisation in Florence that has nothing to do with selling tickets and exists solely to get you to sign a contract that effectively just tells you the ticket prices. Only one person in their office speaks a bit of English and is very difficult to get a message across to.

Anyway I signed the contract, with a little AI help as it wasn’t particularly obvious that there was anywhere to sign, sent it off together with my booking letter containing all the names and received an answer in Italian telling me to call a certain number (+39 081 5379358 < you have to keep the leading zero). That has an option for an English speaking attendant (yay) but when you click one to speak to said attendant you get a message saying “attention please, wrong number selected”.

I messaged our tour guide to say “I am really struggling to get through to parco pompeii to pay for the tickets” only to get the response “know it’s hellish”.

I don’t think they want visitors. Must have tried over ten times. Maybe fifteen. I’ve asked our Italian Sales Manager Marco to call and see if he gets any more joy with the Italian language option. Lo and behold Marco got through. We’re not there yet though. Fingers crossed eh?

In other news I found Brian flat on his back this morning, arms and legs in the air. I wonder if last night’s fox visitor did it. 20:45, 03:20 and 04:21. The lad is now back in position doing what he loves best but it must have been a shock to his system. At least he hadn’t landed in the lake which could have resulted in a rescue boat call out.

A night of snooker watching with THG beckons after chicken fajitas for din dins. What’s not to like?

Yay it is a Monday. On Mondays I go to a pilates class at 13:30 and then head to Yarborough to plough some watery lanes. A watery lane. I don’t dip from lane to lane. In fact today my day starts early with a conference call at 9am I wasn’t sure I knew about but hey. It got me out of bed. In fact I was showered, dressed and having breakfast by 09:10. THG’s finest gran o’lah with yo’gurt.

The fox was very active last night with eight separate visits starting at 18:21 and ending at 05:21. Gosh. Hedgehog and fox were around at the same time at 04:25.

Now in da shed, doors wide open. Tis going to be a beeootiful day begorra.

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Just paid the APCOA fine for forgetting to pay to drop our John off at East Midlands Airport. Effin bastards. Totes forgot. I realise that there are signs every 2 m telling you to do so. Charging you to drop someone off is not a very friendly thing to do. It has reduced my interest in using that airport. Not that I’ve flown from there for yonks. It’s been convenient for our John when coming back from Berlin from time to time. In fact RyanAir is ditching Berlin in October so it might not happen after this year. His alternative is LCY which is a much better airport albeit further away. He can catch the train from LCY.

Good day out yesterday. Lincoln RFC totally walloped Ashby, de la Zouche. Something like 87 – 12. The ref called time half way through the 2nd half. Plenty of talk about arranging a day out at Spurs away next season. Assuming it’s Spurs wot goes down. They are favourites right now. It’s between them and West Aamm. You would think that tickets will be easy enough to get hold of but we shall have to wait and see. Lots of Imps fans will be wanting to go. Will need to book train tickets early. I quite like the idea of taking over a carriage. 07:30 down and 19:43 home. Would be a good day out.

Ended up in the Morning Star beer garden. I went home around eightish as it was getting a tad cold. We did start at twelve thirty. Had a chinese delivered. THG was out later than me! We ended up watching the snooker. Ronnie v John Higgins. 6 – 2 to Ronnie at the mo.

Slow start this morning but there is no rush. It’s overcast and I haven’t yet been out to check on the progress in the wildflower meadow. It’s one of those things where you’d like to be able to fast forward the growth. That, however, would mean fast forwarding life and that would not be good.

Recorded the hedgehog over a period of an hour and a half last night (01:20 – 02:50) in thirteen separate video clips. The fox was in the garden at the same time at the end and I wonder whether the hedgehog felt it expedient to lie low for a bit. Hedgehog was back at first light.

Busy night int jardin with two separate vulpine visits at ten past midnight and quarter past three and the hedgehog rooted around for ten minutes or so at dentist time. The observation of these visits has only been possible since the arrival of the trail cameras and I wonder how long they have been going on for. Part of me wants to think that the hedgehog is quite a new visitor and that its arrival heralds a reduction in the slug and snail population. It certainly only recently we’ve been seeing the fox in broad daylight.

Used the grapefruit spoon for the first time today – thanks Lils & Joe for the team effort to get it back to the shire. Also broke open the last of the bacon from the butcher in Peel. Top guy. Cures it himself. This was the smoked bacon. Really meaty. So now I’m resting in the conservatory, sun blazing through. Gonna be a warm un.

Another sporting day ahead with lunch at the Club Sporting de Lincoln RFC followed by a first team game against someone. I could look them up but I don’t think it matters much, Lincoln being mid-table or similar. This is good use of the afternoon seeing as the Imps game is not on telly despite this being the day where they will be presented with the League 1 winners trophy, win, lose or draw. A time of celebration.

THG has gone running.

Couple of separate hedgehog visits last night. The first at 22:19 caught him at both the Raised Beds and Lake and the second for ten minutes or so at 03:37 around the Raised Beds. I like the idea that the hedgehog spends time in the garden foraging for nosh. Snails and slugs r us. The fox came at 01:38, spent a few seconds drinking at the lake and then mosied on past the Raised Beds to the hole in the fence and on to next door. Good to see the lake becoming an established stop in the hunting grounds. I checked on Brian. He was right under where the fox stopped but the lad seems to be ok. Nothing phases our Brian. I had to move him back an inch or two to a safer spot on the rocks as he seemed to have developed a habit of slipping into the water. Good job the Saucy Sue rescue boat is moored nearby.

This morning we are orf to Laandan. Was up at dawn, as is oft the case. Catching the trane at Newark as the options from Lincoln on a Sunday morning ain’t great. I don’t suppose many people want to catch a train at breakfast time on a Sunday. Too busy reading the papers etc. Limo coming at nine fifteen. Well, DIscount Cabs taxi.

I have decided I am going to go posh this morning. Dapper. The only issue is which bow tie to wear. It is down to a choice of two: a blue Winston Churchill polka dot job or the one with strawberries on. I have a growing collection.  Am thinking strawberries and keep the Winston Churchil for the conference on Thursday. Surprise everyone.

Quite looking forward to lunch at the Ham Yard Hotel. Nothing fancy. Just good quality Sunday lunch fare. They have jazz on between 1pm and 4 on Sundays. We are there from 1pm. Will have been a pretty good lunch if we don’t finish until 4pm. Right, jazz has finished, drink up weroff.

It is my hope and expectation that when I get back on Thursday night the wildflower meadow will be turning green and the seedlings emerging.  There are already signs of life. THG is coming back from London a lot earlier than me so she can maintain the watering regime, both on the meadow and the chillies in the greenhouse. We are in the growing season. THG has some broad beans on one of the raised beds with enhanced levels of protection. Fingers crossed. There is some evidence of slug damage but not on all plants and the pigeons are going to find it hard to get near.

Ryanair flight FR2428 from Leeds to Riga has just flown overhead. Unless it’s the Turkish Airlines TK1174 from DUB to IST. Not sure. Both are exotic routes. Been to Istanbul but not Riga. No plans to go to either though I do fancy Istanbul some day. My last visit was a business trip and I didn’t see much of the city. Did a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus which was quite good and also a dinner at the Topkapi Palace. We walked past an armed soldier on guard to get there.

Anyway back to more mundane but nevertheless important issues. I need to make the tea, Ciao amigos.

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update – can’t actually find my Winston Churchill bow tie. It’ll be in the same bag as my white shirt that I haven’t been able to find for a while now. It’ll turn up sometime!

I’ll have to have a good sort out. THG has a weekend where she switches her winter wardrobe to the summer one and then back again in the autumn.

Last night my bose phones decided my macbook would no longer be called macbook pro but macbookpro 2. I was on a hotel (I think) wifi network the other day when a pop up appeared (somewhere) telling me that there was already a computer called macbookpro on the network and that mine would henceforth be called macbookpro2. I guess that’s short for “macbook pro too”, or “macbookpro as well”. I thought it was purely for the connection on that DHCP server. Slightly concerned that the network was able to rename a computer though to the extent that the headphones called it something that it had not normally called it. Might look into that one.

Anyway I was awake with the dawn chorus again this morning, as is often the case, but on this occasion I nodded off again and before I knew it it was seven ey em and THG was up mekkin the tea. It’s a very refreshing sleep that extra bit. Had some toast and totes forgot I was meant to be having a bit of grapefruit to celebrate the return of my grapefruit spoon from Holt in Wiltshire where I’d accidentally left it at Christmas. It was brought home by son Joe after he had received it from his cousin Lils in London. A round about route but it saved the postage innit. 

Although it is a Saturday I actually have some work to do. A conf call at 9:30. The things you do eh? I also have to clear some stuff off the jobslist though I did manage to do one of those yesterday pm whilst THG was out. Needed to shift all the turf I’d lifted to prepare the ground for the renewal of the wildflower meadow. It is now all in a builders bag being turned into compost. The meadow itself is starting to show signs of life. V promising. Exciting even.

Got a bit of packing to do this pm as we are off to the smoke again on Sunday for a long lunch followed by a couple of nights out with @Stefan and Katya who are over from Berlin. I’m staying in town as I have meetings on Tuesday evening and all day Thursday so figured it wasn’t worth coming home for one night.

THG has left for the Park Run and the conservatory is warming up as the sun streams through. Should be a good growing day. I must check the progress of the chillies in the greenhouse. Ciao amigos.

Oh and fox spotted at the lake at 03:21 and hedgehog on two separate visits an hour and a half apart at the Raised Beds.

The dawn chorus started at 05:15 this morning. At least that’s when I first noticed it. It’s great to have these light mornings when I can nip downstairs and sit in the conservatory. There’s a bit of a breeze outside. Maybe it is more noticeable because the leaves on the trees are emerging.

Yesterday I noticed that the surface of the lake was turning green. I suspect green algae. Not totes sure whether this is the case and whether it is a problem. Or whether it will disappear in time. The lake is a very young feature of the landscape around here so this might just be a part of the natural process of the establishment of an ecosystem.

Some serious hedgehog action overnight. Must have spent most of the night foraging around the garden, including stopping for a swig at the lake. 11 separate video captures between 20:37 and 05:17. Hopefully retired to its nest/dem/home with a belly full of slugs and snails. Fox stopped by once for a minute or so at 01:06. This morning just thirty seconds was enough to record eight species of bird out back: wren, black-cap, robin, chiffchaff, blackbird, song thrush, chaffinch and wood-pigeon. There seems to be a significant increase in bird species this year. Historically we have been able to rely on the robin, blackbird, wren and the occasional bluebird and dunnock. The garden is becoming a true haven for wildlife. When the wildflower meadow gets established it should attract even more.

We (THG) is also planning to widen the border next to the beech hedge. The lawn is gradually becoming smaller. We no longer need it for the kids to play football etc and there is still plenty of grass ish if anyone was to bring some nippers along.

My golf last night btw was totes rubbish. Only one par and I didn’t seem to be able to swing a club. Four quid down! Keeps you out of trouble and it was a pleasant enough evening. Afterwards to the Woodcocks. This pub has very little going for it other than the fact that it is on the way back from the golf club. They’ve dropped at table service and you now either have to order via the barcode or queue up at the bar. In their defence the ordering from the table does bring the beers quite quickly but on the downside they’ve stopped serving Peroni. We had started using the Horse and Groom but that’s been shut for months following a fire in the kitchen. If we can find a better alternative we’ll be there.

At the Woodcocks, few yards away from us, there was a family with a baby using the table as a drum. The parents just sat there oblivious to the noise. I think I’ll buy that kid a drum kit for Christmas. That’ll teach em. I once mischievously bought one of Tom’s pals Giles a drum for his sixth birthday. This was the kid who was dropped off at ours once before school and ran into the house saying “what’s for breakfast”. He was also once heard to call us his “carers”. They moved away from the area.

So today is Friday, yay. Someone has had the temerity to stick a meeting in the calendar at 2pm. Friday is double time in my book 🙂 I do have quite a bit to do today actually so most of it will be spent working. Huh!

Ciao amigos…