Sunday 30th August 2015

Summer is coming to an end. No, it really is, we may be dreaming of long hot days still, but it is now dark before half eight, the hedgerows are heavy with ripening fruit, and the telegraph wires are full of swallows looking at their travel plans. In for months it will be two days before the end of the year. Yes it really is true.

Quite where the year has gone, nearly nine months gone is a mystery to me. But of course I can account for six of those months pointing out the endless business trips I did. And now they begin again, this week will see me returning to Arhus, and next week back to Holland, and then, and then, who knows?

Saturday

Seeing as it was two days since pay day, we had the usual big monthly shop to do. Mostly cat food, cleaning stuff and the like, but it dies mean up and attem at six in the morning, heading for Whitfield and Tesco. We fill a huge trolley up with stuff. Round and round we go, and in the end I think giving up the will to live, we rush to the checkouts so we can leave for another month. Back home we unpack, then I make another coffee and warm the croissants, as its been weeks since we had any.

It is some time since I mentioned orchids: the reason for that is the local council has been mowing the best local location for Autumn Lady's Tresses, the final orchid of the season, so for the last two weeks I have been dealing with county and local councils to get the grass not to be mown until the end of September. I think I have done it now, so driving to the cliffs and parking beside the camper vans, I can see from the car some tiny white spikes already showing.

So, I am hopeful that there will be loads, but what I saw from the car was the best corner of the site, and the rest of it is still recovering, but there are spikes everywhere. I get some shots, but will have to return as there was just one spike fully open and in a full spiral. Pretty though.

From there I drive to Preston as we need meat. Lots of meat. The guys are in good spirits, so I get stuff to fill the freezer up with, and with a wave , after paying the bill, I drive home for an early lunch as I have a date with a train! Yes, orchids and trains, just like old times!

We munch on cheesy rolls filled with marmalade coated ham, which was really as good as it sounds. And then it was train time.

Jools drops me off at Shepherdswell so I can snap it coming out of Lydden Tunnel, as she wants to go to Folkestone to get some electrical bits and bobs. I am first here, but as the due time gets nearer, more and more folks arrive, indeed, just before twenty to two, more people come from the East Kent Railway to see the train.

From the bridge, I can see her headlight at the other end of the tunnel. And once she is halfway through, we can hear her working hard up the slight incline. She emerges in a cloud of smoke, and then coasts beneath us and up what looks like the hill towards Snowdon.

I have to wait half an hour for Jools to collect me, so we go home so I can check on my shots and also to listen to the football. City are not playing until Sunday, so it will be a stress-free days for me, with more than likely the sofa calling me.

I am socomfortable on the sofa that I forget the time and so miss the Thumper which was also due to be passing. It was one of those days.

I cook breaded aubergine, which we eat with more of the pasta salad. It is all very nice indeed. We listen to the radio, drink coffee, and outside darkness falls. Another day slips by.