Er... February?

It’s been a while, huh? Life has been busy in unexpected ways, and blogging just wasn’t on the radar.

16^th February

At Burnbank, 2025 has been designated The Year of Sorting Out the Garden. A good friend was cutting back some Tea-leaved Willow at her allotment and kindly donated 50 or so trimmed sticks for us to begin some hedging. Now, folk close to me have a view on my level of dedication to a task, as a recent text exchange with my daughters demonstrated.

However, in a flurry of activity, Megan and I managed to begin the transformation of the rear garden. Next up is the long-delayed pond, but the cunning plan is to employ a local gardening business to provide the necessary impetus.

Photo courtesy of Megan

20^th February

I am most of the way back to Orkney, sat in a departure lounge at Aberdeen Airport, awaiting a connecting flight to Kirkwall, longing for the space and sanity of a windswept island. I’ll be rather pleased to see Megan too, he added hurriedly.

After a whirlwind trip to the Midlands of Englandshire, planes, hire cars, hotels and two days of product familiarisation, I am drained of energy. When a firm I used to work for many moons ago called up and asked if I’d like two months of gainful employment, I could hardly refuse. It's a technical authoring gig, so my head’s now full of stuff which is going to take some time to rationalise. I think this situation might be covered by the phrase “back in the saddle” as there’s a certain feeling of exhaustion, possibly akin to having crossed a desert.

Whilst south, amidst all the hustle and bustle, wildlife crept in unbidden with a comforting inevitability. Not long after collecting a hire car in Birmingham, I scored my first Magpie of the year alongside the M6. Then, after a day of meetings in a windowless room, the next day served up an hour or so of fieldwork (well, work in a field) yielding Skylark, Blue Tit and Great Tit. The drive back to Birmingham was enlivened immeasurably by a Red Kite gracefully soaring over a stretch of roadworks and speed limits on the M1.

Home again

One of the pieces of mail which greeted me upon my return was a letter from my mobile phone provider informing me of the upcoming discontinuation of the 2G service. Apparently, in business circles, this sort of thing is known as "sunsetting".

To which my response was "Look, Sunshine, this is sunsetting."

23^rd February

Did I mention a windswept island? A south easterly gale is barrelling through, sadly having a deleterious effect upon the flowers of the early dwarf irises in the garden but helpfully cleaning the windows at the front of the house. The new property behind us is now weather-tight but lacks downpipes, such that the guttering is releasing a deluge of water which disappears downwind rapidly and horizontally. Extra rocks have had to be added to the weed-suppressing membrane around the willow cuttings to prevent its escape and reduce the possibility of it subsequently being implicated in the loss of a neighbour's overhead telephone wire.

And, rather predictably, I am coming down with some lurgy, having shared four aircraft with the rest of the UK. Gah!