Wednesday 13th October 2021

The weeks fly by, and yet we seem to be no further forward. Unless we say we are a day nearer when we can get off the treadmill and forget about the daily battles with either IT of the company.

Until then, there is just another day.

It was to be a sunny and warm day, and so I hoped that circumstances meant I could go for a walk. And as it happened, there was ano almost total IT failure, with none of the documents or systems I needed being available.

I tried the usual stuff: restarted the computer, turned it off and back on again.

No change.

I call colleagues and they have the same issue.

Sigh.

That walk was looking more and more tempting.

Jools left for work even earlier, in fact she was already dressed when I came down after waking up, time to swap hellos and then it was goodbye. And it was still dark outside.

I put on a podcast and sip coffee, cats come and go, and the morning progresses, dawn starts to show and it was seven, so time for work. Work issues you know about, so I'll not repeat myself.

Anyway, by ten, I was all caught up, the sun was as high as it was going to get, so I take my phone, put it in my pocket and put on my boots, grab cameras and was ready for some butterfly hunting.

Two days ago, I was chatting to a dogwalker about butterflies, and she told me she had seen dozens, nay hundreds, on the path from Windy Ridge to Kingsdown.

So, in the afternoon I set off over the fields and past Fleet House, down past the farm and up to the top of Windy Ridge.

There, there are four or five choices of direction: sharpl left along Green Lane to Windy Ridge Farm itself, a dogleg left through the woods, straight on to the fields beyond, right down to where there used to be access to the ruined church until the new owners put up a new Berlin Wall to keep people out, and sharp right towards Kingsdown.

In fact the right turn comes out on a road linking Kingsdown and Ringwould, and I realise its about a decade since I walked down here, and that it used to be a wide path, wide enough for a car to drive down, until stopped by concrete blocks.

But a decade of undergrowth spread and the mild, wet summer means its just a single track, and looked nothing like I remember.

The path breaks out of the wood, and continues past a large tree separating two large fields.

No butterflies here, not now as there were few flowers, but a place to return to.

Best turn round and head back home.

Along Green lane, a tree had come down, flattening the barbed wire so I could walkinto the field, round the fallen tree and back on the lane.

I saw four Red Admirals, a single Small White, and many, many bees. None to snap, though.

I walk to Station Road, then it was downhill all the way, turning into our street and back home, having been gone an hour. No calls and no e mails waiting.

So, I have lunch, make a huge brew and listen to some radio show on the i-player.

The afternoon passes without IT being fixed, it is par for the course these days. What am I saying, its been like it since February!

I guess the big news is that I should be going to Denmark before Christmas to meet my boss in person, and catch up with friends and colleagues. I am looking forward to it, although there are no direct flights from London City now, and so its the red eye from Heathrow or a change at Amsterdam. And a half day travel will take a whole day.

So it goes, so it goes.

Anyway, I finish work, pack stuff away and put the finishing touches to dinner; tacos. I made the salsa in the morning, and marinated the chicken in it, as I cook that with the chicken. Maybe I should keep the two separate? I don't know, but its pretty good as it is. And we have fresh steamed corn which we both put more sour cream on, sprinkle with spicy spice, and pretend we're back in New York.

And that's that. No football to watch, just blogs to write, music to listen to, and cats to entertain.