Friday 3rd July 2026

We have reached the end of the week again.

And despite going to bed fairly early, there was no way was six hours sleep anyway near enough.

By stupid brain had me awake at ten past four, so I laid in bed until it was time to get up just gone five. Only, I did fall back to sleep, so laid in until ten to six.

Just in time to see Jools leave for yoga, leaving me with a fresh cup of coffee.

No matter what the day's weather was like, I was going to take it easy. Only I had arranged to meet from Fran at lunchtime to go to Sandwich Bay for some orchid and dragonfly action.

But until then I could kick back, drink tea and have breakfast.

Through the morning there was phot editing and writing up Thursday's adventure to the New Forest, though surprised to only have three shots worth posting, mainly due to dunking the lens in bog water.

Sigh.

It did work as normal first thing, so I thought I had got off lightly, but was to discover at Sandwich Bay, the warm sunshine evaporated the water still inside, misting the optics up again, though not as bad. But the lens wasn't usable.

Sigh, again.

I left the house at quarter past eleven to drive into town for my last jab for three months.

In the waiting room was the same sad faces, different people each time, but with the same, sad expressions.

I bounced up the stairs, and in a couple of minutes was called.

Right arm this time, Suzanne jabbed, and I was done.

We say goodbye and I am history, going down the stairs and walking back to the car park to drive to Sandwich station to collect Fran on the twenty past midday train.

The train pulls in, and Fran arrives. From the station its a five minute drive to the observatory.

I check that it is good in the orchid meadow, so we walk over the road to find the meadow had been cut, but the hay yet to be harvested. So we have to take huge strides to get over the seven lines of thatch piled high to get to the gate the other side.

I look through the viewfinder of the big camera and find it misted up again, unlike when I tested it first thing.

Darn it.

So, we walk to the meadow, take phone shots of the Marsh helleborines.

Then round the corner to see the Yellow bartsia, which Fran wanted to see for a year's tick.

It was then a handsome looking fly landed on me, not realising I was its lunch, and it was busy sucking up blood. I asked Fran to take its picture, which she did, I then swept it off, to find a puncture wound and a trail of the red stuff.

That would itch later!

Back across the meadow, then along the road to the ponds for some dragonfly hunting, though I would sit and take in the scene and warm sunshine rather than go hunting.

Fran went hunting, hoping to find the Red-veined darter I snapped earlier in the week.

Sadly, she failed to find it, but saw much else, so was happy.

It was half two, so we had to make tracks as I was to pick up Jools at three. We stopped for an ice cream, then I drove back into town and dropped Fran at the station before heading back to the bypass and on to Dover.

Jools was waiting on Cherrytree, so she jumps in, and we speed off back home up to the Castle and then along Reach Road with fine views over the Channel to the chalk cliffs of the French coast.

Not much else to report.

We had dinner of bangers and mash, Boston beans and creamed spinach, all eaten and washed up for the music quiz at six.

And that was it, other than the evening game, Australia v Egypt, which was OK, but 1-1 at full time, and with the prospect of extra time and penalties, I bailed and went to bed at nine, and was OK about it.

So it goes.