Monday 4th July 2022

We are now halfway through the year. The halfway point was on Saturday, apparently.

We are over a week past the solstice, so the days are getting shorter. But the balmy days of high summer have yet to bring the swealtering temperatures of our youth, moderate breezes and cloudy skies for the most part.

But it is Monday again, which means back to work, and I am finding it harder to summon up the effort. Not plumbing quite the depths of the time towards my final days as quality manager, nor when I was chargehand in the chicken factory. But at times, its hard.

A new week, maybe signs of a change of direction or, heaven forbid, improvement.

Jools went out for a walk, and after getting up late, I mainline a mug of coffee to ensure I was awake enough for work. The first order of the day was travel expenses.

Travel expenses are the bane of an international playboy and quality expert, and my empoyer have had to make their system even more complicated to satisy the Danish tax authorities, as hotels, meals, travel and all the other stuff you do when on the road, travelling in biscuits, possible.

I have to scan the various receipts I had placed around inside my computer bag, then send them via e mail to my work account.

That would have been OK, but then there were windows updates to install, and meetings to attend. But after two hours I had done it, pretty well I think.

Another meeting, then I could actually start the work for the day. Nearly four hours had slipped by.

I had to review yet another document I had taken the ownership of, then document my comments send them off.

At three I was done for the day, so I grabbed the camera and set off for a walk. It has been some time.

I walk along the street then over the fields. The feld on the right had been taken over my wild flowers and Timothy Grass, all swaying in the "moderate" breeze. The path was so overgorwn that walking along the edge of the field was needed, thus further annoying the farmer even more.

I had hoped to see more butterflies, but the wind wade life difficult for them, so most were hunkering down.

I believe I saw three Painted Ladies as well as a couple of Red Admirals and Large Whites. But none settled, so I let them be.

I walked back home along one of the lower lanes, stopping to greet the cows and horses sheltering from the sun and flies.

The former midden which a couple of weeks ago was a mass of poppies, but now was a mass of rapeseed, all a bobbing cloud of yellow frizz.

I take a shot. Or two.

Back home I make a batch of batter for a cornbread loaf, added some poppy seeds for crunch, and popped it in the oven while I prepared the caprese for dinner.

And I said to Jools when she got home, I was detoxing this week due to the amount of booze supped over the weekend.

Caprese is, as ever, a delight, light and full of flavours, and perfect with the cornbread.

And the day was done, and we were 20% nearer the weekend. When young we used to will the week away so we could go out at the weekend, now its the other way round.

Unless there are orchids to snap, of course.