It’s been an age since I’ve had anything to say. Something occurs to me and I think ‘done that.’ Something happens and I think ‘been there.’ Life really is just a healthier repeat of last year, only without all the new clothes as there’s nowhere to wear them.
Book group on Wednesday was an experience, 13 women starved of company and unused to the ways of Skype was never going to be easy and Maureen did a great job tracking those who’d disappeared (I think one fled) and sorting out technical hitches. There was some discussion of the book but nothing major. However, I think people were just so glad to be seeing faces other than those they live with that no one really cared about the glitches. It was still a crap book in my opinion. I hope the next one is better (though the title is unpromising, it was recommended from a reliable source). But how delighted I was to see one of us, who completed chemo just as lockdown arrived, sporting her lovely cropped hair look. I wonder if she strokes it like I did mine. Obsessively lol.
Today I realised that I am interfering with Nature. The starling tries to protect her nest and the magpies continue to raid it. I Googled and my suspicion was correct - they do destroy eggs so maybe it’s not just the twigs they are after. Some crows joined the fray today. So what is the point of my leaping up and flapping my sun hat to scare the raiders away when, in my absence, they are probably wreaking havoc anyway. In addition to that, I get the gratitude of a verminous starling who chirps with what must be one of the least appealing forms of birdsong - like scratching metal.
The lawn gets longer by the day. Initially, I thought Dennis didn’t like the new lawnmower! He failed to mention that, while ignoring my instruction (not advice) to start on the highest setting, the motor actual broke down. So a £250 lawnmower less than 2 weeks old and having completed three short pathways is now dead as a doornail. For once, I caught him out - he asked how was he to know which was the high and which was the low setting when I’d got the instruction book to sort out the guarantee (do idiots
invalidate a warranty?). Answer - I’d told him 2 was the lowest. When I checked, yep, he’d tried a first mow on 2. I don’t even feel surprise now. The man believes a machine must work his way or not at all. Hence the number of burnt-out steam cleaners and dud lawnmowers we have. I once bought hedge trimmers but I never trusted him to use them so... Heigh ho. We are going for the meadow look and yes, it does attract the butterflies. Today, two Orange-tip butterflies (new to me this year), one Red Admiral, one Painted Lady and some kind of white one with heavy green markings underneath (so not a Cabbage White). If I sound expert, it’s only because I do the Great Butterfly Count in the summer and I’ve learnt to tell a Painted Lady from a Red Admiral. I had to look up the Orange-tip. What a stunner.
Speaking of stunners, we have a tiny bluebell patch. On my circuitous walk the other day, I spotted them and thought they looked a bit flat. On my walk back in the other direction, I discovered why!
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