Tuesday 10th May 2022

So, by legs no longer ached, and my back seemed better.

Which was nice.

Jools had to catch up at work, so left me at six. I put the coffee pot for some fresh Java and began to contemplate work.

I shouldn't complain, really. Having a job and all. But there are times when you wonder if its all worth it. Pay day each month says it is.

I have a bunch of stuff to do, and had pondered this the previous evening, so I have a plan of action.

With fresh coffee pumping through my veins, I was freshly motivated, and got cracking.

Outside, the sun shone and it seemed reasonable to go for a walk later. And a member of my FB group is staying in the village asking if I knew where there were any Early Spiders in the area. So I volunteered to meet him at half four.

It would also give me the chance to scour the field edges to look for signs of Dense-flowered fumitory, which grows in the village.

But before then, more work.

And lunch.

But three o'clock came and time to leave.

As my legs and back had stopped aching that morning, why not go on another walk for hours on end?

Brilliant.

I had been contacted by a member of my FB Orchid group about Early Spiders near the village as they were staying in a caravan.

No, I don't understand that, either.

And could I show him?

Well, there is the small colony on the cliffs by the monument, so we arranged to meet at half four, giving me over an hour from when work finished to walk along to Norway Drove, down and up the Dip, over the downs to Leathercoat Point.

When I left it was overcast and breezy, but the clouds did clear, and it became somewhat warmer.

I also saw two butterflies that I was able to snap.

Nice.

The ground is bone dry, the mud at the bottom of The Dip has set into concrete, but all around is mostly still green.

I did suffer a bit, and my speed wasn't so fast, but a fine walk, felt better for it, even if the climb up Station Road to home seemed to take forever and nearly kill me.

And Roger saw the orchids, even if the only one still worth photographing was an inch from the cliff edge and a 100m fall......

He survived, but my friend Tony would have been having kittens with worry.

We walked back through the houses, parting outside the surgery, with Roger heading out along Reach Road, while I walked down the path past the village pond and then what used to be the Red Lion, but it now a house.

I made it home ten minutes before Jools, so I was sitting outside being bothered by cats who thought it was high time I fed them.

So, I unlocked the back door, fed the cats while Jools put the chicken traybakes she had made over the weekend into the oven to warm through. We had a brew while we waited, then served it up along with defrosted and warmed through creamed spinach.

Cheers.

There was football to watch. I mean, there's always football to watch. Villa v Liverpool, which was interesting in that both teams are so much better than Norwich, maybe than we could ever be. Liverpool won 2-1, so the race for the title goes on.