A birding day

Had a lovely day out today at the London Wetland Centre with the brother-in-law and his fiancee - hello, Peter and Sue! Great to catch up with you both, and I'm only sorry that the weather wasn't that good. Mind you, it could have rained a lot more, so we should be thankful for small mercies!

We managed to see about six zillion shovellers, three zillion herons (I accept some of this sentence might be exaggeration for effect) and a decent amount of teal. Not to mention magpies, smews, some goldeneye and one or two of those glorious green ring-necked parakeets. But Bird of the Day definitely goes to me (hurrah! I can have a Smug Birder Wife look for a month now) for spotting a Water Rail while everyone else was looking the other way. And my goodness, they're sooo cute and small. And it was fairly out in the open too, which is unusual.

I also managed to have two delicious naps in the car as Lord H was driving, so I am raring to go for the week now. Ho ho. At least until the horrors of Monday morning dawn ...

Back home, I have gasped and groaned at the excitements of the "Strictly Come Dancing" vote - thank goodness sexy Gethin is through! What a shock to have Alesha in the dance off! Just how lucky can Matt get! And farewell to lovely Letitia - I'll miss you hugely ... But I'm so looking forward to what the remaining three can do with the Argentinean Tango next week - here's hoping Matt doesn't forget his steps again, poor dear.

Tonight, I shall ring Mother (arrgghh! Sorry, that just slipped out) and later be glued to "Cranford". Who will die this episode, we ask ourselves? Will anyone be left to finish off the series at all? I swear it's becoming more and more like Jacobean tragedy every week.

And this week's haiku is:

Rain washes away
the stickiness of summer.
Winter's voice remains.


Today's nice things:

1. Our day out birding with Peter & Sue
2. TV
3. Writing a haiku.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers