Friday 16th September 2011

And relax.

It’s Friday and we both have a week off from the second the hooter sounds.

Yabba

Dabba

Do

!

It has been a fine week; it began with Britain being battered by a hurricane. Wow, that sounds amazing. But what it was really was an old hurricane that had really let itself go and was now a storm. OK, we did not get the worst of it here in Kent, but the wind did blow and the turbines did produce many wiggly amps. The technicians did not go out to work, and instead messed around in the office.

Sigh.

On TV there were the usual scenes of weather reports standing beside bodies of water, describing the force of the wind and putting into words what we could see happening behind them. When they were at Metrological school, do you think that is a phase they had to pass? Talking to a TV camera whilst trying not to be blown into the ocean. It’s like the weather maps with pictures of clouds; we know what a cloud looks like, do don’t HAVE to patronise us, but still you do. So, ferries got cancelled, bridges got closed. And the world still turned.



The next day we had the tree in our garden lopped. More like a haircut, or leafcut, really. I mean it wasn’t really a problem, but was still growing, and we thought a smaller tree would provide more light, whilst still providing shelter for the birds. I was first home, and whilst washing up, the amount of extra light was amazing, and we can see the houses that used to lurk behind the tree up on the other side of the valley.



The cats were more than spooked we think, and it took several hours for them to calm down and eat again. We have a leafless tree, a pile of logs for the burner and happy neighbours as their satellite works again.

Other than that, it has been a quiet week; Europe edges closer to the financial abyss as the Euro slumps and Greece needs yet more money. Promises are made, with crossed fingers behind the backs of everyone who is not Greek. Banks are worried, Governments are worried, rating agencies cut ratings (its what they do) and the world still turns.

Yesterday was a perfect autumnal day; the sun shone all day from a clear blue sky, and there was just the hint of a breeze. It was so warm I had to open the office window really wide to get a breeze and so cool down. We had dinner sitting outside. I say dinner, it was beer and pizza, and the day was already cooling down, but we were determined to make the most of the sunshine. Later in the evening, we got the camera, tripod, camping light and power tools out and made pretty patterns.



And finally, we sat outside, looking at the rising moon, away in the east. It was blood red, and were I superstitious I would say it was a portent of doom. As it is, I thought it beautiful and toasted the moon with some Isle of Jura.

All that is left to do today, is to take Scully to the vet, and for him to decide on how her tail is healing. I think its fine, as she is carrying it like she used to, raised high in the air as though it was not damaged. That’s my view anyway. We are looking after Nan this week, and so she is coming for dinner tonight and we are having steak and ale pie with fresh veg and roast spuds. A proper dinner methinks. She will not like it, she doesn’t eat pastry, but there is raspberries for dessert, which is more to her liking.

And then it is the weekend, and me free of the MOD from midnight tonight.