Tuesday 14th December 2021

Good morning, St Maggies!

I was up before the alarm, before five, worried I would lay in.

Some hope.

So, got up, put the heating on, fed the cats and made the first coffee of the day.

Nearly two hours later, I snapped this. Better than the actual sunrise, just to the east of it, glorious colours.

I have little work to do as I am all caught up with things and it being the end of year and now is the time for reflection and looking forward.

In the time of COVID.

Anyway, so I put on a podcast, have second coffee, breakfast andset up the office. My colleagues are busy, so no one really to talk to, so I do some research and generally keep myself out of trouble.

So, after some toast and yet more coffee, I take myself out for a walk. Its been three or four days sice I last really went any further than the bird feeders or the bins, so heading down the street to the open countryside is good.

Better than good.

I meet no one in the hour I was out, saw few flowers, no inects and only a few distant birds.

But the sun shone down from an almost clear blue sky, something we were not told to expect, but as always good to see, and with the wind set in the west, even the breeze was warm. Ish.

However, clouds were clearly building to the south of Dover, so I had to make the most of it.

I decide to walk not just to Fleet House, but beyond that, down the hill, past the farm and up the long slope to the new bench to ponder life for twenty minutes.

A kestral hovered twenty metres away, scannin either side looking for something to eat, it glided away, skimming over the top of the winter crop in the field. On the far side of the field, a buzzard took off, crows and jackdaws rose in alarm and flew to it to begin mobbing.

I sigh, get up and walk to the edge of the wood, then take Green Lane, which is now quite muddy, heading back towards Station Road.

I walk down past the two lonely horses, neither get up to come and say hello, so I let them be and walk up the slope to Collingwood, then back home down the alleyway from Collingwood.

It was midday.

Back home I had lunch of yet more toast. I mean, its an easy recipe, I can do that, then back to work, which involves lots of staring out of the window, looking for inspiration. None was forthcoming.

Evening comes in the middle of the afternoon now. And it seems just right to end the working day when the table lamp is switched on, so to reduce the strain on my poor eyes.

I feed the cats again, they are happy. Which is nice.

Then prepare dinner; crispbakes with mashed taters and beans. And I make enough mash for leftovers on Wednesday, which I decide to have for lunch, but that's for another day.

Jools calls, she was in Burnley, and pooped. She had done 21,000 steps, and her legs now didn't want to move. So, she was going to have a bath then go to bed early. But the weather had been kind, and she had enjoyed it, though her dreams had been work based, so I told her its just her mind sorting things out.

We bought her boss a USB turntable as he hasn't listened to his record collection in nearly two decades. We bought the basic Eon one, it arrived and he is bits that someone could do something so nice for him. Jools was in tears, then I was when she told me.

The footy wasn't on TV, I tried to watch some German games, but couldn't get engaged with it, that and because Norwich were playing Villa at the same time, and played poorly. What with injuries and COVID we only just had a team to field. 2-0.

Sigh.

I have some slow gin and pretzels and got tiddly.

Then went to bed at ten.