The Last Post

One of the many monikers I have adopted for myself is that of Harry the hyperactive arachnid, in recognition of the many little blogs and other web-based projects that I am involved with. The time I spend working on these projects could or should be spent doing stuff around the house and in the garden. In fact, tending to my blogs and web-sites is very much like being a gardener - tidying up, a bit of weeding, planting new flowers, cross-pollinating and constant nurturing. Sadly, being a virtual gardener does nothing to improve the state of the encroaching jungle at my back door. Previous posts have talked about the giraffes and zebras that are probably grazing at the end of the garden, and I dare not think about what might be lurking in the long grass.

Also, not many people seem to stop by to admire my blooms, so I am often left wondering why I do it. I think an important factor is that it provides an outlet for my creativity, a part of my being and soul which would otherwise wither in the workplace.

With spring just around the corner, it is a good time to engage in a bit of virtual landscape gardening. To this end, I am exporting this blog to my posh blog so as to make maintenance and future growth more manageable and efficient. I had this idea all by myself, without any input from a management consultant. I must be getting quite grown-up now.

So, despite the valedictory tone of this post, you can continue to be amused, enlightened and edified (but not necessarily in that order or in equal measures) by following me to Wistful and Wry with a Twist of Lemon, also known as my posh blog, where I will continue to make mostly daily posts in a range of hues and of variable quality. Sometimes there is not enough rain, sometimes the frost is cruel, and there are some damp and shady places from whence strangeness may come...

And finally, for this blog, a BIG THANK YOU  you to everyone who helped me raise funds for Cancer Research UK by sponsoring my month of abstinence. I raised £52 through contributions and matched this amount with the money I saved by not buying wine.

There and Back

Main task of the day successfully accomplished - bringing my daughter back from Oxford at the end of term. Secondary task of the day also partially accomplished - tinkering with my various blogs and tweaking my websites. In my guise as Harry the hyperactive arachnid, I have been spinning magic.

My usual Saturday task of doing the weekly shop has had a lower profile this weekend, and nothing amusing or insightful happened during my trip to the supermarket. Sometimes Saturdays are like that.

I think a little foto delight is what is called for right now...

Friday Feelings

So, another week draws to a close. Nothing dramatic this week, just tickling over, free-wheeling, looking to get into gear for next week. There is always next week, the best reason for not doing it today.

It has been a horrible day in the Bedfordshire valleys and Northamptonshire steppes, driving to work in heavy mist again, a mist that never lifted, and returning home in even worse visibility.

Oh, just noticed I put "tickling" instead of "ticking" in the first paragraph. Too good to change - I think tickling over is a far better description of the week. It may not be accurate, but it sure sounds like more fun.

Only discovery of the day is that you can buy duvet pegs. You put them at the corners of the duvet cover when you try to shake in the duvet. I don't know how I lived without them. Before their existence, presumably the land was awash with duvets without covers, gazed upon by bemused citizens.

October in March

The promise of spring was quickly broken. My drive to work this morning was through wet mist, redolent of an October morning. Mist curled round trees in a tight embrace, fearful to let go, like an autumn leaf with separation anxiety.

Suddenly, or so it seems, lambs have appeared in the fields. Another sign of the gambolling problem that is causing such havoc in some communities.

By this evening, we were in November. Heavy rain falling from a dark sky before 6.00 pm.

In all other respects, not a bad day. Four days back at work and I'm starting to get the hang of it again. I will probably peak tomorrow, and then it will be downhill to the weekend.

Taking Flight

Another marathon MDT meeting today, from 09.00 through to 12.30. So close to Luton airport, we can hear some of the aircraft on their approach and/or departure. How lovely it would be to be aboard one of those outward flights, to be far from here. Unfortunately, it is only my thoughts that can take flight, giving me temporary relief from tedium.

I enjoyed my lunch of sausage sandwich on the train back from Luton to Bedford, reading Metro. Sometimes we have  to settle for First Capital Connect rather than Wizzair.

Fog Blog

The ice and fog returned to the Northamptonshire steppes this morning, but lovely sunshine made an appearance later in the day. I spent most of the afternoon in another MDT meeting wishing I was elsewhere, looking out at the fading sunshine as the day drifted away, taking some of my soul with it. Apart from that, not too bad a day!

No major insights into the meaning of life today and no humorous events or encounters. I angered one driver by wrongfully taking precedence at a chicane down by the embankment - but hey, why get so worked up by these things? We will all reach our destinations in due course, let's enjoy the drive. Just beware of chicane cheats.

Back to Work

A fairly easy introduction back into the workplace today. Thankfully there were no disasters while I was away and no-one had cleared my desk or office. No nasties in my email inbox either. Good to start in a positive way, although I was not exactly filled with enthusiasm.

I have spent most of this evening processing my photographs from yesterday's expedition to Cambridge, so not much time or energy left for an inspiring post tonight. I share an apposite picture...

Cycles and Punts

A title that needs to be handled with care. Today was the last workshop for the Inspired Light photography course, as we turned up fully loaded and ready to shoot everything that moved or threatened to move in the beautiful city of Cambridge. We were not blessed with sunshine, but it was reasonably mild and we were able to find  pictures in a range of unlikely places as we deployed our newly-found and polished photographers' eyes. For me, the title sums up the main themes of my pictures.

And so back to work tomorrow....

Affinity

It was curious to note that when we were waiting at the baggage reclaim indicator board on our return from Iceland - and please take a look at my holiday snaps! - , four of us were standing in the same order as we were sitting on the plane. This unplanned occurrence suggests that the flight had created a strange affinity between us - notwithstanding that one of the people in this airport tableau was my wife - even though we had not interacted with the other two passengers during the flight. Maybe strange gravitational forces are created due to speed and altitude that persist when we disembark. This needs to be researched further, lest one is prone to follow a fellow passenger through the wrong exit channel at Customs, or even to the wrong car park, bus stop, hotel, town...the consequences could range from the embarrassing to the catastrophic. It could be conceptualised as a form of aviation imprinting.

There was a brief echo of this during my supermarket shopping this morning - a woman apologised for talking to me because she thought I was her friend. Maybe sometime in the past we shared a flight.

Defrosting

I'm sure no-one expected me to resume blogging last night after such an early start for the return journey from Iceland. Everything in its own time. A lovely if rather hectic few days, the holiday equivalent of "Supermarket Dash" for those of you who remember the TV show. In five days of travel, we boarded 4 planes, 4 coaches, 2 buses, 2 mini-buses and 4 taxis. However, we eventually got to see a subtle display of the northern lights despite the cloud cover and the light from a full moon. We brought enough clothes for an Arctic expedition, but in the end the temperature did not drop lower than 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. Ironically, it was colder in Leicester when we were shopping for cold weather clothing.

It was strangely moving, a reminder of our insignificance as individuals, as a species, as a planet in the eternal story of the universe, kindling feelings redolent of those I felt when watching the Hale-Bopp comet in1997 - a sense of cold isolation and desolation, doomed to hurtle through space for eternity unless rescued by a collision with a larger object. Maybe there is a message here about life itself as we follow our respective paths and orbits under the illusion of  having control and choice.