Friday 13th October 2023

And so, to Friday.

Its been a long three weeks, and for nearly a month, no travel to plan for in the next week.

There is a pile of admin to do, travel expenses, but there are also reports to write too.

The weather is changing this weekend, a blast of Arctic air is coming down, bringing us frosty nights and cold days, the beginning of winter, really.

We have been spoiled, even in Denmark it was warm enough not to have a jacket on, but not from tomorrow.

As usual, Jools went to yoga and I put the bins out before the wind brought the rain we had been told to expect.

Through the morning, it was so cloudy and dark I had the lights on, but into the afternoon when the clouds cleared, the sun broke through.

My attention had been caught in the morning by a brown bird. I know what it was, a sparrowhawk, it had landed in the bush with the feeders, then flew to the fence at the bottom of the garden where it preened for ten minutes before swooping in one last time in the hope of getting some breakfast. It didn't, but stayed long enough on the lawnmeadow for me to get a few shots, before it flew to the shed roof.

I could have stayed all morning, watching the garden, but time was getting on and there was the department meeting to fall asleep in.

We should have gone to Jen's in the afternoon for cards, but it seems she and John were going to Folkestone in the evening to see Manfred Mann in concert, so just playing for an hour didn't seem worth it.

Jools had gone to Canterbury from work, she came home at four with a bag of fish and chips, so we had an early chippy tea, no need for me to cook and little to wash up after.

Main event of the evening was England v Australia in a football friendly. England were dire, won 1-0, but that's 90 minutes of my life I won't be getting back....