Tuesday 13th July 2021

36th year on from Live Aid.

Good grief.

Where does the time go?

Once again I slept through the alarm and woke up as Jools was climbing into the car to drive to work. I saw the headlights switch on and off she went.

I got dressed and went downstairs, the cats had already been fed and were either out exploring or asleep. At least it wasn't raining and wasn't expect to either, though there would be no sun. Although, as it happened, no one told Mother Nature there would be no sun, as we shall see later.

I make coffee.

A second coffee.

Then go to pick raspberries and loganberries for breakfast, ready to eat at some time before nine.

I also made a batch of wholemeal bread and put that in the cooker on its lowest setting to rise in the tin. And hour or so later, the rising done, it is baked and I would have a hot crust to have melted butter and apricot butter on for elevenses, if not sooner.

And there was work.

Always work.

I get a call from my old buddy, Glen, just checking if I was still working for the company. I say I am still here. He was in the office in Arhus, and the mood is grim as more and more people resign, some with nowhere to go, just to get out. So, not just me feeling shit, which is good and bead, I guess.

I have an audit agenda to prepare, so that takes me a couple of hours. I have breakfast, the hot buttered crust of the loaf.

In the afternoon the clouds thinned and the sun came out. Heck, even to the north the sky was actually blue. So at three I got my camera, put on my boots and went for a walk as it had been a while.

I went the usual route up to Windy Ridge, along the edge and back down and home. About an hour. I hope to see butterflies.

The path across the field is so overgrown now that people are walking on the edge of the field instead, so I do too. The path is full of docks, burdock, grasses and other robust plants, all packed in with no room to squeeze between them.

In the wood there was a Holly Blue, but in the glade, it is now so overgrown no chance of going in to check on the Brown Argus and other blues that used to be seen there.

Still no pigs in the copse, and the woodland floor is going green with plants now there has been no snouts nosing around looking for food. And round the corner, down past the farm, where the bottom of the (small) Dip was muddy as expected, but once through that, up the slope and the track was still baked chalk, with the hedgerows full of brambles and mallows.

Beside the wood at Windy Ridge the track was very muddy indeed, and picking a fairly dry was tricky. A few Speckled Woods flew up into the trees, so no chance of a snap.

By now it was officially hot, and I was glad to reach the path leading back down to Collingwood, past the paddock with the white mare, who came over to check that my hands were indeed empty.

From there is was a brief slog up the last slope, then down to our road, where National Grid had finished on one of the new builds, meaning the generator that had been going 24 hours a day for two weeks was finally silent.

Dinner was the other two fishcakes, and with them I made curried rice with a combination of three curry powders, and was very nice. And more creamed spinach, as you can never get enough of that.

Jools comes home on time, meaning it was ready as she walked into the kitchen, which was filled with rather lots of yummy smells.

And that was that.

We tidy up, put the dishes away, and I make coffee and we make the last two "fun" sized peanut butter kit kats vanish, just like that.