30th October 2017 Practice makes perfect?

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Monday 30th 33-43F, 1-6C, calm and bright with white frost on the grass. Fortunately the massive flooding over north Fyn never quite reached the heights of the dire forecasts. Better to be prepared than not.

A gorgeous sunny morning though a little cool on bare hands. I walked up to a local high point to capture the unusually clear views of the landscape. The green blush of the immature crops provides a nicely decorative touch to the drab earth. Autumn colours lift the normally dark uniformity of the trees and woods. Another beautiful day without a ride.

Tuesday 31st 45-49F, 7-9C,  rather grey at times with rare sunny periods. Almost no wind. Had a longer walk up to the woods for an hour and half. The first bird I saw, apart from the dozen or more nutty blackbirds was a large bird of prey. Then I saw a very large heron land beyond a hump in a field and thought it was a stork. I never saw it again so could not confirm its identity.

A small robin lay dead by the verge. I doubt we see one robin per year over here. Back in Gravely Blighted we had robins feeding from our hands in the garden and standing on our gardening tools. Their tinkling song was constantly in the background in the countryside.

While I was up on the ridge this morning a whining tractor went along the road at the bottom of the hill. It was odd to hear it at intervals where there were breaks in the hedges or landscape until it was probably a good couple of miles away. The autumn leaf fall and bare fields have revealed new vistas and alignments.

The Head Gardener and the tricycling clown have now been officially married for 50 years. Nobody gave us a chance of ever staying together because we never stopped arguing right from the very beginning. We are still arguing and still together. Practice makes perfect?

A tour to the more distant shops. Gentle crosswind going at 16mph. More of a headwind building on the way back. Rather cool on the way. Overdressed on the way back. Progress is happening on the new stretches of cycle path but still no asphalt. I'm wondering if the powers that be are reading my blog. They have been filling in the potholes I complained about last week. The regular ponds on the new road and cycle path have now been drained.  Still no progress on the excavation on the new cycle path. It must be two years since they put down a plastic mat and two marker poles over the hole. Let's see if they are gone next time. Only 14 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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