18th June 2016 Blustering along on the crest of a wave...

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Saturday 18th 64-69F, 18-21C, windy and very cloudy with occasional dark periods but dry. I walked down to the village and was rewarded by more martins swooping around a different church. There was a much fresher feel to the weather today and it was really quite windy at times. A blackbird and a warbler were sharing the same branch at the very top of an old and very dead ash tree. They were no more than two feet apart and each singing away apparently oblivious to each other.

I forgot to mention 6 fighter jets going over low and very quietly in very tight formation. Perhaps there was an air display somewhere? The first such sighting in decades.  The last low flying object I remember seeing was a black triangle [or featureless, bright mild steel, cheese wedge if you prefer] which passed over our garden traveling very slowly just before dusk. That was probably 25 years ago and there is still no rational explanation. We were on the inland flight path of a forces airfield. So were used to almost anything going over just above the treetops. Usually they were banked over on a wing tip and usually not alone. I'm sure they could see our obscene gestures as we counted their rivets and glared up at the pilots from our rural idyll. An umbrella, to protect ourselves from falling fuel spray, would have been handy. As would ear defenders but nobody ever offered us any.

Never assume you live somewhere quiet just because you are rural detached. The neighbour's dog barked constantly for a decade at our last place. Much the same happened in Denmark. A brain dead moron owned an outside dog which could do two impressions. A howling baby or a shrieking baby chimp. Neither rendition was particularly convincing but the pair moved away eventually. Then there was the round-the clock-365 days a year chainsawing and a tractor running just outside our windows to drive a log splitter. Now it's mostly their 365x24 hour toxic smoke from demolition waste we have to put up with even in heat waves. Opening a window for some fresh is the very last thing we can ever do.

Late morning ride provided blustery crosswinds, tailwinds and headwinds. The councils seem to be taking drainage rather seriously quite recently. With several new emergency reservoirs being excavated to hold flash floods. Or, they could just use porous materials for all the factory car parks instead of the default asphalt. But I expect they know much more about this than I do. The new cycle paths are making slow but steady progress but seem to be dependent on the granite kerbs being laid before the asphalt by only a pair of workers. A long, uphill drag into the wind coming back by another way while well loaded with shopping. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Yeah, right! 17 miles.

Sunday 19th 55-64F, 13-18C, windy and overcast. A rather cold and grey start but it should brighten a little later. Remaining windy. It certainly added a cooling chill wearing my usual lightweight walking clothes. The House Martins were performing again as I hovered near the church. They were making the most incredible reversals in direction and seemed to enjoy chasing each other. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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