11th February 2019 Do you want ice with that?

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Monday 11th 37F, cloudy start but supposedly clearing to sunshine. Northwesterly winds. 8.00: The early cloud has cleared to a low grey stripe right around the horizon. It's looking promising for the sunny day we are threatened with.

An anticlockwise walk up to the woods and back via the field edges. Saw a distant deer and two more running away. A sunny day, as promised, but a cold and occasionally strong, NW wind.

Tuesday 12th 29F, white frost, calm and sunny. Just a brisk 40 minute walk to the lanes in brilliant sunshine. Saw a flock of Fieldfares with a couple of Redwings mixed in. The traffic was crunching over a load of ice on the road. Which had obviously fallen from the roof of a container lorry on a sharp corner.

It is difficult to get the [right] staff when you are competing against sociopathic, Danish, transport company bosses who use trafficked, slave-wage drivers. The same sociopathic, Danish, transport company bosses who make their trafficked slaves sleep on the floor of the shipping containers before driving for an illegally long, 8 day week behind the wheel! Safe in your hands? Righto.

Wednesday 13th 42F, dark grey with light winds to start. Danish politicians are competing to shorten the timeline before petrol and diesel cars are history on Danish roads. The next great idea is to boost prices for liquid fuel to get drivers to invest a small fortune in an electric car with 200% import taxes. Nice idea? That means the millions who cannot possibly afford an electric car, at Danish retail prices, pay increased taxes on the fuel they need to run the only car they can afford to get to work. Heads you loose. Tails you lose.

Meanwhile, a group of early adopters, who installed solar panels to enjoy free electricity and very short repayment times, are suing the Danish government. Why? For changing the rules to stop the massive proliferation of privately owned, solar panels at taxpayer's expense. Heads you lose. Tails you lose.

The Danish news headlines have just recognized my comment about taxing the poor on fuel prices. i.e. the vast majority who cannot afford an electric car at artificially inflated prices due to the government's own import duties.

Walked to the far woods for a change of scenery under grey skies and pushed along by a thin, cold, Westerly wind. There were lots of birds in the bare forest. Mostly Great tits, but I saw a male Bullfinch singing at the top of a tall and slender tree. A Long-tailed tit came right down within 6' of me to forage on a spindly bush. It seemed completely blind to me. Or simply unconcerned at my presence. A pretty, male Yellowhammer kept a wider berth.

An hour to reach the main road at the far end of the forest tracks and another half an our to walk back. Mostly on the grass verge to avoid the traffic. Builders are repairing a big, old farmhouse now the weather has improved. The tiled, barn roof had been allowed to go into holes by the previous owners. Which was shame because it spoilt the appearance of the entire property and area. A modern, hydraulic lift made quick work of reaching the roof without the need for scaffolding or risking the obviously fragile roof with worker's boots.

Thursday 14th 41F, dark grey, breezy and misty. Walked to the lanes. Not one vehicle had their rear fog lights lit. A farming lorry was making noises like gunfire from the wheels or axles. Bearings or loose wheel? Who knows?

Friday 15th 32-41F, misty and frosty start, then clear and sunny all day. Walked to the village and back. Lots of birds about today. I saw a Nuthatch walking repeatedly upside down on a large tree trunk by the church. I was allowed out later for a short shopping trip. Only 7 miles.

Sunday 16th 37-44F, clear and sunny start but cloud expected. In fact it was a long, sunny day. Walked to the lanes and back. A large brown bird of prey on the roadside hedge.

Sunday 17th 43-50F, grey, calm, misty and more grey today. I wonder if I could sneak out for a ride? Walked to the woods and back along the marsh for an hour in all. Not a single bird on the lake but Yellow hammers in the roadside hedges. I was trying to capture the misty greyness but my pictures just looked out of focus and dull.

Managed a ride to more distant shops. Returning heavily laden. Hard work on the hills! Particularly when I was overtaken by a battery driven pensioner, laughed and then had to stay on her back wheel. As soon as we crested the top I overtook and cruised at 16mph leaving her far behind on the flat. Then I was overtaken by a keen group of about 20 riders cruising at ~19mph. I jumped up a ramp onto the pavement to let a bus go past and received a wave in thanks.

Nearing home I was overtaken by a criminally insane driver in a dark bronze "Nondescript." I could hear his tyres from half a mile behind as he accelerated to 70mph in a 50mph national speed limit. He slipped past me straight into the path of a bus emerging from a blind corner and forcing me off the road and onto the potholed rough verge. 15 miles. Still not out.

C lick on any image for an enlargement.

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