The sparrows are farting. Probably not but the avian chorale is in full voice outside. Rehearsals. Suspect none of them are sparrows. It is 5.45am, Saturday, stardate 6th March, 2021 CE. Not much traffic. Twirly.
It is the weekend. Clearly. No rugby today but there is a jobs list. I haven’t looked at it lately but suspect the tasks are building. Will look later 🙂
Went for a walk around Whisby nature reserve yesterday. Set the exercise recording going on the fitbit and only realised that I’d forgotten to click “finish” when I had been in the car a couple of minutes headed home. Doh. Quite funny really to see the squiggly bits of walk and then a long straight line in the car on the bypass.
Continue to monitor the reward flight sitch. Some business class availability to Miami this morning. Miami is the least preferred option as it’s still a long flight from Trinidad and Tobago. 1st pref is 1st class to Barbados. We are roughly two weeks away from crunch time.
In other news we have tentatively decided to spend September 2023 following the rugby world cup in France. The beauty of possessing a campervan. Will be a crowd of us going. I’m actually not that bothered whether I get any tickets especially as the rest of them will be mostly interested in watching England. I’d be happy enough to just be around for the atmosphere and watch the games in local bars. The games are scheduled mostly towards the end of the week and the weekend so we would still have time to do touristy bits. Otherwise rugby tours are all consuming and highly alcoholic in nature.
September 2023 is a long way away but these things need planning.
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I observed this morning that a letter has arrived addressed to “the householder” from the Office of National Statistics. The 2021 census is upon us. We are having to fill it in online which makes a lorra sense to me although I note there is a freephone number to call if you want a paper copy.
Historically it has taken a good six months for any census data to become available. Not totes sure about this as I don’t think I’ve ever looked at it but my point is that if we are all filling it in online than you would think that the results would be almost immediately available.
The census was really useful when I was researching my family tree. Being a Davies with roots in Carmarthenshire you would think that this would not be the easiest thing to do. Where we come from 25% of people have this surname. Fortunately we were very religious and my male antecedents were Baptist Ministers. All I had to do was keep an eye open for “minister of religion” or simlar in the census entries.
The census only goes back to 1831 so going back further requires access to church records which are often incomplete. In Wales they didn’t use surnames and people often called David son of David (Dafydd ap Dafydd), a popular name after the Welsh patron saint. My research stalled mid eighteenth century and I’ve parked the activity until such time as I have more of it.
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I was out in the garden painting woodwork treatment on some bed slats, as you do. They are being repurposed as a useful storage device for hanging things up in the garage. I was getting it sorted when I noticed that one of the slats had a lot of woodworm holes. Not good innit. So the slats are draped across a tarpaulin on the patio. You know, the one covering up the garden furniture.
Anyway there I was dabbing Cuprinol on the wood when I noticed a blackbird pecking around. Hmmm I thought. I wonder if he is after the dried mealworms in the imitation sunflower garden bird feeder. The feeder was empty so I nipped to the greenhouse and got the bag of feed. The minute I’d replenished the sunflower a robin appeared and nicked a mealworm. Result.
Made me feel good. Interesting how what interests you changes. I had said to myself I’d get some work done this afternoon. I have a quote to get out and a video and a presentation to have ready for Monday. That’s the keyword there. Monday. Tomorrow is Sunday innit. Why do something well in advance when you can leave it till the last minute 🙂 So now I’m watching a bit of footy having completed all the jobs I plan to do today.
Tbh I’m not that interested in most football matches. I should stick the Imps on but I will have missed most of the first half and don’t fancy forking out a tenner to watch 45 mins. Normally it is something Anne and I like to do together anyway and she is repainting the kitchen. Again 🙂