Saturday 26th September 2015

Friday.

I knew it was going to be a tough day, a brief look at my calendar would have shown five hours of meetings straight off. Meetings sat at my dining room table whilst I strained to hear what people were saying in another country, listening to them laughing, drinking coffee, whilst there is me, and the cats, and me with my headphones on, trying to listen. Do I have any comments I am asked at the end of the fist one! Well, if I heard things correctly, then no But should have added I only really heard one in five words, so who knows, really?

Before that I head breakfast, more coffee and while I tried to prep for the meeting, I saw nothing but endless sunshine outside. When my time comes, I will go out I promised myself.

The morning passes, I attend the second meeting, and finally do some admin. And at three, I can finish for the day. Outside the sun is hidden behind clouds, but there will always be the chance that there will be sunny intervals....

It is now past the autumn equinox, and so the days get shorter and nights longer, but for a time the days can be as warm as summer.

I have had a long week, made so by that long, long day to Belgium and back on Tuesday, and working at the computer all week has meant that my allergies are on the verge of erupting again.

So, once I had attended all the meetings I needed to, I put on my walking boots and went for a stomp.

The forecast said it should have been sunny, but the clouds overhead were thick and contrasted against the sun when it broke through.

The hedgerows are heavy with fruit, but the elderberries are just done already, but the blackberries and sloes are now at their best. The fields of beans still have not been harvested, but as I write this there is the sound of machinery in the air, so who knows.

Further along, someone has cleared most of the vegetation from the butterfly copse, so part of me hopes that is all that will be done, as it is a haven for wildlife.

Once beyond the pig's copse, the sun broke through, turning the vistas into technicolour!

Up from the farm, heavy recent rain has worn a channel on the track leading to the wood, but with the sun now out, it is warm enough to take my coat off as I start to huff and puff.

Into the wood, it is still shaded, with the leaves still on the trees above. And despite apparently looking ideal for fungi, I see just a few King Alfred's Cakes on dead branches laying on the floor.

With the sun now over the yardarm, I sense it being gin o'clock, so decide to walk home for a pre-dinner swifter.

Jools comes home and so I bol some potatoes to sautee, fry up some sausages which where left over from the spring and flavoured with wild garlic. It is a quick, simple meal. And dirty, in tat apart from the boiled corn, it is all bad stuff. But sometimes you just want bad, dirty food.

Outside the day fades t night, the moon rises earlier and fuller than the day before. It will be whole on Sunday, and there will be an eclipse on Monday morning. Will we be up? maybe.

That leaves us with The Don, and then a travelogue about Patagonia, and fires our desires to go there even further.

On a downbeat note, I suffer three migrane attacks for the fist time in the afternoon and evening, so bad is it I go straight to bed without cleaning my teeth due to the dancing lights in my vision. Needless to say, I do not feel good. I hope that things will be better tomorrow, it is Saturday after all....