Summer days

Should I believe Stat Counter visits, which are low, or should I believe View Count stats, which are pleasingly high, by Blogger? No idea. The sunshine seems to have gone to everyone's head and even Facebook is quiet. The school holidays have begun here in the UK but still the cul de sac is quiet. It is really quite strange. Perhaps everyone has gone on holiday.

TV has gone beserk with the Commonwealth Games. Personally I think its a little too soon after the Olympics in 2012. I've had my fill of watching people run and jump, but more than one TV channel is devoted to nothing but sport. But then, TV programmers are so annoying. I set the video to record the men's final at Roland Garros, and of course I watched it live while in France. Last night I checked the recording and found that by the end of the fourth set, when Nadal had to win one more game to win his 9th championship, the powers in charge flipped channels to give people the news. I remember being very cross in France at the time. I ask you! Four plus hours of tennis and then they switch at literally the last minute. Are these people mad?

I'm not sure how much more sunshine we can take. We've been hiding away indoors in the middle of the day because the sticky heat has been unpleasant. Energy simply drains away, and it is so difficult to sleep. Even the dog has been lolling about, trying to get comfortable. We drove up to Kielder a couple of days ago - Friday, actually - and though it was lovely, it was too hot to walk far. We spent a lot of time sitting under the tall trees overlooking the reservoir, enjoying the shade. Today it seems a little cooler, with a bit of a breeze, which is much more like English weather. I'll take Tim for his long walk now, before the heat builds. I've been going really early, as early as seven in the morning, and though there are always other dog walkers out and about, it is a lot quieter. We know the regulars now, which is nice.

Christmas is here

Christmas Eve and guests scheduled to arrive from Oz within the hour. House scrubbed, fridge stocked, will probably fall asleep about mid-afternoon as soon not used to housework! Took Tim for a walk early this morning and managed to come home without being coated in mud. Funny how only men were dog-walking this morning - women probably chained to the kitchen. But Maybe I do both sexes an injustice...men on holiday, women happy to let men walk the dog? A distinct possibility.

The news this morning cites the pardon for Turing, and, as with all these posthumous pardons and apologies I cannot see the point. Times have changed so much in the sixty years since he died. Plus which he will never know, so who are we pleasing with this? I never saw much point in the current craze for offering apologies over national wrongs in the far distant past. Apologise now for something you've just done and regret, to the person you hurt, of course. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to realise it is necessary, but if  both of you are still alive, then do it and feel better. But after four hundred years when all parties involved are long dead and forgotten - is there a point? It has to be lip service to  a large degree. But then politicians are good at that.

I know it's the season of good will and all that, but sometimes I think we are too forgiving for our own good these days.  Before you all shout and tell me to go retire in my corner and not come out again, let me wish you all a happy and serene festive period and a prosperous, healthy and happy 2014. I may not get much writing done in the next few days, but I'll be working hard in the coming few months. Ideas are bubbling and I may just get them down on the computer before too long.

The picture was taken in Kielder forest last week. A riot of winter colours.

Snakes in the grass?

Glorious sunshine for the second day running -
and it is September!

We rarely go out on a weekend these days. Now that we're at leisure seven days a week, it is so much better to go out visiting places during the week when people are at work and kids are at school. The difference we notice during the school holidays is enormous!
But we did drive up to Kielder Forest on Saturday, thinking it might be the last fine day of the year. As we drove north and west, the sunshine got fainter and the clouds grew bigger, and by the time we arrived, it was a warm, grey day. The big advantage was few people, and Tim scampered along the trails in great delight, sniffing here, there and everywhere. He even went down to the water and plodged, but we thought he probably shouldn't as it is a reservoir and we all drink the water in it. As usual, there was plenty and the water was being released on a slow and steady spume. They do say that Kielder is the wettest place in England. A good place to build a reservoir, then.

Tim has a talent for the dramatic. As we turned for home, he bounced into the undergrowth and must have stood on a dead thistle, for he yelped, sat down and held out his injured paw. I couldn't find anything - no cuts, no thorns, no stones wedged - but while I was  examining his paw - difficult at the best of times, and not easy when said paw is covered in wet grit and mud - he flopped down on his side in the long grass and moaned. For a moment or two I wondered if an adder had bitten him, but had seen no sign of anything whipping away into the grass. He got up and limped  for a while, complaining bitterly, but his paw didn't swell, and he didn't look sick. Then suddenly an interesting smell caught his attention, and he forgot to limp. within  fifty yards he was trotting along normally. Sighs of relief all round.