Monday 2nd September 2024

It looks and feels like autumn. Though, when the sun shines it can get war, hot even, but the sun is lower in the sky all day, rises more towards the south and sets nearer to west. It is dark now before half eight most evenings, and only getting light at half five.

Next week we go to Tuscany, and when we come back, it'll nearly be October.

Despite not doing much over the weekend, we really enjoyed it, and we both feel resentful on Monday morning when work claims eight hours from me, and nine from Jools. We are ready to step off the treadmill and do nothing.

Or not nothing, something. Something that we might enjoy, volunteer for, something that helps others.

But for now there is work, of course. Donna was back, but Jools still went in at quarter to seven, mainly because I had an audit from seven, so had to be all logged in and ready to go.

We got up at half five, and I had second coffee and breakfast made for ten to seven, Jools had left, and I was hot to trot.

Four hours pass very slowly. I am like a modern day Sherlock Holmes, dealing with facts and evidence, and in doing so fight the good fight and free the great prisoner: truth.

We are done at eleven, then two half hour phone calls quickly follow, so that it is midday, and five hours after starting, that I can make a fresh brew and sit in the garden to contemplate things.

I make a pasta sauce with roasted vegetables, have that for lunch at one, although the wine was tempting, I have squash instead.

And through the afternoon, and as temperature rises when the sun come out from behind the clouds, procrastination comes all too easy, and with the internet available, faffing around gets ever more attractive, until I log off and wrap up for the day.

Being a Monday, Jools was off to the pool, so no cooking at least until later. Jen comes round. Her friend in Australia has developed cancer and is very ill, so Jen is flying out on Thursday and needs to pay for flights. She comes round as she is stuck in a loop on a website.

I clear that loop, but then find another. Some thinking involved and it seems that the phone connection wasn't strong enough, so log into the wi-fi, and it all works like magic and the zeros and ones pay for the flight.

Sitting on the patio, I see something large clinging to one of the stems. I guess, correctly, it was an Elephant Hawkmoth, so go to take shots, only to find a second.

Amazing creatures. I take 46 shots.

Jools arrives back as Jen was leaving, leaving no time for a chat or coffee. She just changes and leaves, and there is me again with the cats.

I listen to podcasts, have a brew and write. Then at eight, put the pizza in to cook so that it was ready for when Jools came home and we could eat, drink and be merry, just in time to go to bed.

Lessons not learned

It was suggested that the defeat at the recent election wasn't bad enough to convince the Conservative Party it was wrong. A result that left the party with around 50 to 60 seats might be seen as severe enough to make the party think that maybe it was wrong, not the electorate.

But as it happens, current Leadership front runner, Kemi Badenoch, thinks the reason the Party lost the election was saying Conservative things, then doing something left wing. Implying that the electorate wanted more extreme right wing crazy stuff.

The reality is that for the most part, people really don't think left or right, they just want things to work.

Like they used to.

And after 14 years under Tory rule, just about everything is broken, despite it always being someone else's fault, the opposite of taking back control.

It would appear the lesson learned was the wrong one, maybe on purpose, but more right wing crazy stuff, more culture wars, more of everything the country did not want seems to be on the cards.

It was always going to be interesting to see whch way the Party jumped, left or right. But right means giving up the centre ground and being taken seriously.

Meanwhile, things the Dail Mail is currently losing its shit over: Deputy Prime Minister goes on holiday during Parliamentary recess, and Prime Minister moves portrait of Margaret Thatcher. Sadly, the BBC reports Mail editorials and bases much of its output on it.

What a world we live in today.

Sunday 1st September 2024

Orchids begat general botany.

General botany begat butterflies.

Butterflies begat moths.

Moths begat dragonflies.

The thing about dragonflies. No, the thing about Damselflies, is that they all pretty much look the same.

Sure, some have red eyes. And some have white legs. Some black legs, some with spots on their wings and shapes on S2 or whatever.

Most are small. Most are small and blue.

Well, most of the males are small and blue. The females are small and mostly green.

Except the blue form females, which are blue.

Or the orange form.

And then freshly emerged, adult and over-old damsels will be different colours too. In both sexes.

So, for each species, at least six different colour forms, sometimes more.

Thanks to living here in Kent, I thought I had seen all the Damselfly species it was possible to see here. And then a couple of weeks back, a friend, Andrew, discovered another.

The Scarce Blue Tailed is, as its name suggests, scarce, and he discovered a few males in a survey at the new pools at Sandwich Bay.

I went last week to find them, but failed.

So today, seven days later, I went back. Armed with both the macro and big boy lens, and now in my mind, clear what I was looking for.

We drove to Sandwich Bay, got the last parking spot outside the observatory. While I walked to the new pools, Jools walked over the links to the Strand to go swimming.

A lady was at the pools, she had come from Eastbourne, and was out of luck so far.

So, combining our knowledge, we began to search together. At first with no luck. She went off to a different pool, and I studied stems of grass, when a damsel floated by and landed.

It had a mostly black tail, but with bright blue segments near the end. This was our target.

I called Polly over, and we both got shots. I switch from the big lens to the macro and got within six inches of the wee beastie.

Job done.

I spot a second, flying along the margin of the pool, and landing on a stem so that a lady from Leicestershire could see one, if at a distance.

Happy that I wouldn't see one closer than the first, I said my goodbyes and walked back to the road, then dodging traffic and lycra-clad cyclists, beck to the observatory for an ice creak and a can of pop while I waited for Jools to come back from the beach.

She came back after a back 20 minutes, revealing that she had gone into the water on a beach with no other swimmers to watch over her and be swept 200m down the beach, and getting back in a struggle.

Lesson leaned, she said.

Jools had a bag of Mini Cheddars, and after swapping news with John, our tour leader when we go to India, we go to the car and then home.

I make hash for lunch, dishing it up within the hour, and washing it down with beer or cider.

Which meant I slept through most of the Newcastle v Spurs game. I saw enough to think Spurs should have won by a hatful, though in the end they lost 2-1.

Wide awake then for the main event: Man Utd v Liverpool, two former giants of the game, both now in the shadow of Citeh, and Liverpool running out 3-0 winners, though it could and should have been ten.

Bacon butties for supper, some internetting for #wildflowerhour, then a shower and time for bed, as I had an early morning start on Monday with an audit.

Saturday 31st August 2024

It was the last day of August, two thirds of the year gone. We have done so much this month, it seemed a good idea to do little. So, after coffee, I went to Tesco to get a few essentials, and it still came to £122! Tesco is not busy that time of the morning, neither are the roads. But Tesco does have Christmas stock in, already. Mince pies, chocolates, bisuits and so on, all in fancy boxes. Its still Summer. So I get back just after eight, Jools put the shopping away while I make breakfast. There's some stuff Jools wants in town, so I stay home, and instead of lollygagging, I vacuum the kitchen, living room and stairs. The cats were not happy. Then when Jools come back, I make bacon and sausage butties, all timed to be cooked by quarter past twelve, in time so I could watch Norwich play at Coventry. In a good game, Norwich got stronger, scoring just after half time and got better as the second half went on, but failed to score more, though didn't concede either. Unlike Everton, who in their later kick off managed to turn a 2-0 with with 87 minutes gone into a 3-2 defeat eight minutes later, And that takes skills. We have warmed up leftover Chinese for supper, while I watch yet more football. It passes the time, while on the wireless, Craig plays more funk and soul.

Friday 30th August 2024

With nighttime rain forecasted for the weekend, Thursday night was the last chance for a while to put the trap out, so first job in the morning, after emergency first coffee, was check the trap.

Sadly, a Snout sp flew off as I turned off the lamp, but plenty to see and enjoy, including a Burnished Brass and a new one, Dark Spectacle, which disguises itself as a twig, like it its cousin, the Buff Tip.

I snap them all, then go to put the clippings, and trash out, back inside for second coffee and breakfast.

And then to work, in which I finalise the draft of the audit report, and finish just before lunch, which is when I receive my co-auditor's comments and findings. Back to it on Monday, then.

On Saturday, I scrounged a lemon from Amalfi during the pasta making course, so it was Saturday that I made pasta a limone, though using bought spaghetti rather than making my own.

And a proper, big Italian lemon lifts it up so much, so it seems I will be a lemon snob as well now.

I finish at half one, then sit outside with Mulder and Scully waiting for Jools to come back from the factory, so we can then go to Jen's for cards.

We don't do so well, until Jools scoops the "run" kitty in Queenie and I guess she recoups most of our losses for the day, as we had nearly ran out of money in the tin.

So it goes, so it goes.

Back home for the music quiz, that I win for a change, and guessing "Arrival" in some 6 seconds. Meanwhile Jools goes to collect a Chinese, so that once I am done with the quiz, Jools gets back and we eat our fill, so much food there is enough for another meal over the weekend.

It is Transfer deadline day, so I follow that on the interwebs while watching Luton v QPR, though I am pooped by half time to admit defeat and go to bed.

Outside wind is howling, though is still hot and humid in the house.

Crazy times.

Thursday 29th August 2024

It might not look much, but:

In 2003, I knew I was leaving the RAF, so gave my Tennant notice to leave the house, and I was to move in for the last 18 months of my enlistment.

I had to furnish the whole house, as two divorces had left me with just the hi-fi and record collection.

So, I went shopping.

I bought a sofa, bed, wardrobe, cabinets, futon, washing machine and tumble dryer. And had to equip a kitchen.

I went to a long since vanished homeware shop in Norwich and spent a grand. A quarter of which was a fancy knife set, of course.

Among al the essentials, I bought a pasta cutter, clearly my plan was to make my own pasta. Heck, I even bought pasta flour that grew old and mouldy in the back of the pantry.

The cutter laid in various drawers and so has been unused for a quarter of a century, nearly.

Until yesterday.

When I made 200g of fresh pasta, rolled it out and made, well, something thicker than spaghetti.

How'd it all come out?

Wait and see.

Well, it was al dente, but good, although I did think the dough too dry, I added oil and it came out OK, so cut into strips, covered with a sprinkle of semolina flour to stop the strands sticking, and then just wait for Jools to come home so I could cook.

A pot of boiling water, and pop the pasta in for three minutes, cut and dice the guanciale, heat in a frying pan until the fat rendered. Add the pasta, some pasta water, and then the grated pecorino cheese, cook until the sauce was creamy.

And serve.

All done in then minutes, and tasty, though the pasta a bit too thick, but good enough and will be better next time.

Other than that, it was another day at work. Another day slept through the alarm, and another day writing the report, fielding calls and generally filling my time.

There was the "big" meeting at three, though a difference in expectations from me and my manager and HR, I corrected them and closed the meeting.

I have no idea where this will end, but I am, at least, in control.

Dinner was a triumph, served with a good red wine, and devastating company from Jools.

I am so tired with work and fighting.

Bed at eight, and snoozing before it was properly dark.

Wednesday 28th August 2024

Up and attem!

I put the trap out again, and so second task, after coffee, is to check the trap, and the highlight was a vibrantly coloured and marked moth. A Peach Blossom.

It is the time of the year when the sun still rises before six, but arcs lower across the sky, so the light pours through the petals and leaves of flowers rather than on them.

A few years back, Jools planted some giant oats, which the Goldfinches take a shine to the seeds of during the winter. To see them cut back almost to the ground, then in a couple of weeks be four or five feet tall again, is amazing.

There is work, more writing of the audit report, which is never as easy as you'd imagine it to be. So, once I had the second coffee, I set up the office and get down to work again.

It is going to be hot again, so I have the doors and windows open, the cats sleep deep in the undergrowth at the top of the garden, or some equally dark corner of the house. I am not really bothered as I work.

I am trying not to think of it too much, but 363 days until I retire. Maybe more as my birthday falls on Bank Holiday Monday next year, if I work to the weekend it'll be another whole month.

We shall see.

I was going to go out for a walk, but come half three, the sun and coupled with little breeze meant the heat was like a blanket, so I sit in the shade and discuss international trade with Mulder.

Dinner was Caprese with another go at the almost instant focaccia done in a frying pan, so come quarter to six, a fine Italian feast is ready for when Jools comes home.

Of course there was football in the evening, even as I battled snoozing on the sofa with Scully. Nottingham Forest v Newcastle, with the Toon taking the least after 18 seconds or something.

I keep watching until full time, ten give up on penalties, so go to bed, unaware who won.