Brighter

I’ve even less to do today. Yesterday we took over Paloma, our new car, for her 3 month check up. We waited for the half hour it took. We were astonished to discover she’d been fully valetted & gleaming like new, though we couldn’t help thinking it wouldn’t last long. The day had turned damp, misty rather than rainy, & there seems to be lots of muck on the road, especially as we seem to be following tractors pulling trails of slurry behind them.

In some ways the homeward journey was quite beautiful. As we neared Heversham & looked across towards the Kent estuary, the scene became dominated by a huge glowing orange ball of a sun. It looked all the more magical for the mist rising from the intervening fields.

We weren’t late back but both agreed we were too tired to think about cooking. We went down to the village pub for fish & chips. They were good.

I never really seemed to fully wake up all day yesterday – the after effect of the sleeping pills I’d taken Wednesday night. I was to bed early. I’m glad to say I’m feeling much fresher today, more able to cope with life. I could just wish the sun would come out for a visit. I suppose I shouldn’t ask for everything.

This weekend is the annual bird count. I’m curious to see what results we’ll get. I suspect there are far fewer. Without the mature trees the smaller birds seem nervous of coming even though I keep putting food out. Our main visitors seem to be the magpies, blackbirds, gulls & collared doves. We shall see. I’m sure the bird count will increase in the coming years as the trees grow more, bushing out, & there is more shelter for the small birds to hide from passing birds of prey. I’m really interested to see what the effect of the garden changes on the bird population in our garden is.