Sunday 19th January 2020

Second day of the weekend, and Blue Monday's Eve.

Jools still not feeling too good with her foot, though swelling had gone down. So, I say I will pop out just to check on a couple of sites for wild flowers and/or orchids.

I'll be honest, it was "and" orchids.

And yes, orchids. It might just be the second week of the year, but in the woodland and on the downs, rosettes have formed and this year's spikes are gathering their strength.

So best go and check on them.

But first: football. And with Norwich actually winning, no need to fast forward through their game, just luxuriate in the glow of three points won and an all round good weekend enjoyed. Halfway though I make lunch, fruit and yoghurt. I don't make either, just open the tin or peel the oranges and kiwi fruit, make brews.

And then back to the TV for more football.

And when that is done, on with the boots and gather the cameras for some macro flower action. Or macro spring growth action.

At least.

A short drive up the A2 is Kingston, where in the churchyard there is an area given to wild flowers where dozens of tiny yellow winter aconites grow, and should be in flower. Had it been warmer and the sun higher, they would have been, but at half nine in the morning the buds were tightly shut, so I snap the scene and many of the flowers.

Round the back of the church, in the large churchyard I see snowdrops and winter heliotrope too, all in flower, or close to it. I have no choice by to lay on the ground, in the mud, to get the shots I want. The ground is saturated and the mud deep, so I sink in an inch or so, so that when I get up half of me is brown.

Yay, mud.

From Kingston it is a short drive down the valley to Barham so to check on the Early Purples. I know the site has been disappointing with actual flowering spikes, but there are always rosettes, and these are the nearest to home. Early Purples is one of several orchid species that puts up a rosette of leaves in the winter and early spring before flowering, so checking on how the rosettles look is the closest thing to orchiding at this time of the year, but also gives an indication of numbers and how healthy they look.

After walking up the bridleway, I can report the orchids look in rude health, huge healthy looking rosettes, and with one already forming a spike, though it is early days yet and a cold snap could stop growth for many weeks.

But still, orchids.

Also, there were the early signs of dozens of Bluebells and Lords and Ladies too, spring is just round the corner.

Perhaps.

I walk back to the car, then take the valley road back to Kingston and back onto the A2 at Bridge and then back to Dover an home.

I find Jools sitting on the patio, feet up to reduce swelling, but enjoying laying the sunshine, where it was more than warm enough to sit outside, at least until the sun swung round further to the west. Then it got cold, quickly.

By then we were back inside, having had bacon butties for lunch(!) and me settling down for an afternoon of football. Burnley v Leicester first, and half an hour later, Liverpool v Utd. Inbetween I cook steak and potatoes for our early dinner, and we eat, drink and be merry and all done my half four when the game kicked off.

I just had to stay awake. Easier said than done.

But I do, and enjoy the game which ends with Liverpool 16 points clear at the top. The result meant that it was mathematically impossible for Norwich to win the league. Just in case you were worrying.

I spend the evening watching a travelogue on BBC4, a train journey from the northern station to the southern one on New Zealand's north island. It showed vast landscapes, huge bridges, winding tunnels and more interesting and potentially violent history of the country I had been previously aware of. There is a second half to watch, a car journey down the southern island. Will watch later.

Anyway, another weekend done and gone.