Just heard Woodpeckers in the woods I’m working in😁
The sun ☀️ is out I’m waking my dog.
Or was it a daily mail reader building a bunker to fill full of beans and bog roll to sit this out in?
Sun's out!☀️
Guns out/buns out*
*delete as applicable
Clocks change soon 🙂
My local trails are drying out at last 🙂
*delete as applicable
I ain’t deleting’ nuffin’
Yup guns out,working in a T shirt, forgot to mention,It is a sewage treatment works, a tad ripe, and plenty of poo flies😁
I went for a run this morning and saw a sparrowhawk hunting along the hedge line.
All my daffs and camellia are in full bloom in the garden so it is looking very colourful.
I was speaking to botanist recently about the role that plants have on drying up the trails.
Apparently the flora sucks water up from the soil, which travels through the roots, into the main body of the plant, and then evaporates out of the leaves.....
or so it transpires.
sparkyrhino
Yup guns out,working in a T shirt, forgot to mention,It is a sewage treatment works, a tad ripe, and plenty of poo flies😁
Have you noticed an increase in bog roll usage?
For the first time in 25 years, I have no flights , ferries or tunnels booked.
Kinda good timing
Coffee is better at home than in the office.
Have you noticed an increase in bog roll usage?
Thee will likely be an increase in sewer blockages and subsequent flooding due to more wet wipes being flushed down the loo.
I’m waking my dog
Let sleeping dogs lie.
[Anono.or so it transpires]this made me laugh out loud...
Let sleeping dogs lie.
😀
He’s asleep again now pretty much all he does as he’s 12 on Friday.
Hopefully out on the motorbike this afternoon, stopping off in Skipton for a coffee and a cake of some description from the Craven Bakery.
The blue tits have moved back into our nest box.
Cycled down the wrong way of a dual carriageway today on my commute - Less than 1/3rd of the cars on the road. Can hear birds singing again.
Hopefully out on the motorbike this afternoon, stopping off in Skipton for a coffee and a cake of some description from the Craven Bakery.
<Waves from behind barricade>
Actually, might head out for a spin in a minute, sun is oot!
Lasagne for lunch.
The rain stopped for half an hour and the blackbirds started singing.
Sun, sun, sun.
The cherry trees lining the street are in blossom, and WFH means I can take my two little girls for a play on their bikes. The eldest, 4 and a half, is doing really well now on her pedal bike and her face is one big grin. Awesome.
I follow this account on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WSheepdog
"I am Inca The Worlds Smallest Sheepdog I works for @Zwartblesie
I hold a shared apprenticeship with Ovenmitt under @1CatShepherd on Black Sheep Farm in Ireland."
It's a tiny dog that works as a sheepdog, lives with various other dogs, cats, goats and obviously sheep.
She's recently had puppies and they're just starting to get out and explore the world, a whole thread of them here: https://twitter.com/WSheepdog/status/1239256272416976905
Just been for a walk in the sun. Really nice to be outside, spring is in the air. Few people about, anyone we encountered we gave some space. It's definitely a bit quieter around here, edge of south Manchester.
So this isn't a thread for people who have tested positive then?
W@h, getting to see kids a load more and been working away lately.
Went for a run at lunchtime, first time it's felt like spring and I wish I'd worn shorts. Also heard a woodpecker in the forest.
Walked to the park with the kids, who swung on a swing, caught a couple of pokemon and ran through a muddy puddle. Great fun.
We have a week of leave next week. Aside from the fact that my holiday was cancelled (I'm over that now), I now have a week off where I'm not really allowed out into the world. This is fantastic because instead of doing sociable things I have carte blanche to spend much of the time riding my bike.
There is warmth in that yellow blob in the sky, and it isn't blowing it's tits off and it hasn't rained for two days.
WFH has always been brilliant, I'm glad others are seeing positive mental health and vitality benefits from it.
🥰
It's been dry here for over 36 hours! I dont think I can recall that happening in weeks. The perm-a-puddle on our access road is already reducing in size.
There has been sunshine and a lot of birds in the garden.
Hopefully a ride later after work.
There shouldnt, be an increase in loo roll usage,I have implemented a three sheet limit(your going to wash your hands anyway)
Bluebells will be out soon, and have you seen the pictures from Venice? The water in the canals is clear!
I actually tidied up my tools.
My boss is going to be working from home as much as possible. As he never does anything useful this will make no difference to my workload, and I won't have to listen to him.
Saw swans nesting at the marina near the office on my ride home
It's forcing me to branch out from my usual repertoire of evening meals. Like "Oh there's no pasta, I'll see what I can make with chestnuts and jarred whelks". Tonight's fajitas will be fillet steak.
The shops still have a mega selection of stuff. If you focus on what's there rather than what's not there are endless possibilities.
Here's a week of positives chez Scape...
Thursday 12th Night walk with the dogs up at Wholestone Moor. Picked up a pair of eyes in the lamp and decided it wasn't a fox, eyes were too blue. Stalked in with the lamp off to within 50 yards and lit up a roe buck, still in velvet. He'd been grazing in a corner of two walls and simply leapt the wall and disappeared as I lit him up.
Friday 13th Heard the first Curlews up at Cupwith. Always a sure sign of spring.
Saturday 14th Son home from Uni for the weekend. Out for three hours with the dogs at Scammonden, and discovered no one uses the permissive paths through the pastures/rashes . My lab flushed a roe doe out of some dense cover in some woodland, and another got up from some bramble thickets in front of us.
Sunday 15th Scammonden Shorter walk, again through the rashes/pastures starting from the picnic area. An abundance of snipe, woodcock and a couple of cock pheasants. Have to keep the dogs out of the gutters and gullies now the ducks are nesting.
Monday 16th. Back up at Cupwith, and saw the first Skylark of the year. Must have been a couple of hundred feet up just off the path. Met a young couple with a lovely little Patterdale pup and the bloke told me he'd never been up on the moors before, so was enthralled by the Skylark.
Tuesday 17th Really blustery up at Cupwith, but the same Skylark was holding his own against the westerly and still singing his heart out. All the drains and dewponds full of frogspawn. More Curlews and the grouse were chuckling away in the heather.
This morning my garden is absolutely full of finches. I counted seven goldfinches in one tree, and a horde of chaffinches. I've got two pairs of blackbirds nesting, one at the side of the house and one all the way down the bottom of the garden. There are also two pairs of bluetits hard at it. The dummy alarm box on the back wall has been used as a nest for the last twenty years, and a new pair started nesting in a cavity in the stonework last year and are back this year.
SO, in all of this gloom and despondency there are plenty of positives going on.
My cars immaculate 👍🥳
Run this morning was dry and fairly warm.. 🤹♂️
That the young are trying to protect the old in this war when in every other one the old have sent the young to die for them.
This made me laugh. There's always time to have a dig at your brother, even during a global crisis. 🙂
https://twitter.com/jackremmington/status/1239844473376518144
I might actually be able to paint my shop at a leisurely pace rather than rushing it over night.
WFH today, got out for a good run round scammonden this morning.Got my feet up with the laptop writing documents i've been sat on for ages, fire lit, good coffee and my anxiety is beginning to wain
Just trying to avoid spending lots of money on new running gear and a mountaineering jacket in the sales
Surprisingly all three new projects I had booked in have converted to remote working. I’m really surprised as universities are normally pretty conservative. It’s been really interesting working out how to do it, looking at tools for voting, quizzes, etc and writing extra content.
I expected to be working maybe a day a week, but it looks like I’ll be at least 75% as busy as normal. It’s also a model for how I might want to work after this finally gets sorted. Better for me, better for the environment.
We picked my daughter up from Uni so all the family is at home. Everyone is currently healthy. I have three nice bikes to ride and the forecast looks good.
Rationing myself to reading the news twice a day. Instead started on my backlog of 100+ unread books.
I mean I’m still pretty worried about where we’re going to end up, but in our little bubble things are more than okay.
well not quite working from home - 50% of the time. however super quiet ride in through the provence countryside this morning, kind of reminded me of traffic levels when I was a kid... spring has sprung!
although the French have just made it illegal to go for "bike rides" as they don't want any extra accidents adding to hospitals, which I get. I'm thinking that riding to work doesn't count and I have all my bits of paper to say I can go to work so we'll see what happens. (trying not break rule one)
got home yesterday and went for a walk with my girlfriend and step daughter up the hill behind the house to watch the sunset - first time we've done that together.
so, yeah, some positives.
Steve.
That video is amazing, thanks martinhutch
Or was it a daily mail reader building a bunker to fill full of beans and bog roll to sit this out in?
waves.
That video is amazing, thanks martinhutch
And weirdly, the bit at the end where he tells him he loves him was a bit dusty for me.
Eastenders filming has been suspended.
Oh come on, why has nobody mentioned Eurovision? 😀
Once I cross the bridge from town its like a release - I walk through a wood with a heronry on the way to work - chicks hatched and parents ferrying toads and frogs to fatten them up; Roe buck with prongs newly stripped of velvet; woodpeckers drumming, first chiff chaff of spring calling. For the vast majority of life its business as usual!
I usually work from home anyway, but with work being so quiet and and the weather being so good and my colleagues being so understanding I've ridden my bike every day this week and I have a feeling it will continue for a while yet!
The garden is full of birds every morning singing and eating.
I can handle this for a while I think
My Bonty Flash Charger turned up and I know that tomorrow I shall attain road tubeless Nirvana.
The next 6 days off work. No more talk of coronavirus from lazy women looking for excuses to take time off work.
Finally treated myself to a looper pedal. Slowly building up a library of backing tracks and am in the process of learning bass patterns as my modelling board offers bass settings. The bass thing is quite flattering as the scales are no mystery, but boy do you have to be tight with the rhythm!
I rode my new bike that has been sat in he garage for 2 weeks!
Best. Day. Ever.
My Bonty Flash Charger turned up and I know that tomorrow I shall attain road tubeless Nirvana.
Flash Charger and Schwalbe Easy Fit means I have two tyres sitting at 100psi in the garage.
I'll let em sit for a bit to see if they have seated cleanly, bang in the Blue and go for a ride finally.
Happy days.
and saw a sparrowhawk
On our faux commute (go out and ride for 40-60 mins) ending up back at home, this morning we saw a bird fly away and my wife was confused as to what it was as she didn't initially believe she'd just seen a wild Barn owl! Beautiful sight.
As above I'm loving home coffee and just had a new batch arrive today 🙂
Air pollution is clearing up all over.
Not going out I should be saving money, but in reality I'm just spending it online. Might have enough for a new bathroom once all this blows over though.
First time I've spotted a post from Flashy in months, when I raised concerns about him before my thread was shut as it was considered a paging thread, I was jut surprised he'd be off here for so long!
Hair cut 💇♂️
Two girls out running 🏃♀️
Chip Shops open 🖐
Dog's moulting so I've stripped out a bagful of undercoat with the Furminator and placed it strategically about the garden for the nesting birds to use.
I've also spent a happy hour boning out a whole chicken. A bag of diced breast, a bag of diced leg meat, converted the skin to jerk flavour scratchings, made jerk wings, and the bones are roasting before being g made into soup. The kitchen smells wonderful, reminiscent of weekends at home with a thrifty mother......., and I've calculated the breasts will make a curry for four, the leg meat will make pilau for four, the soup will make four lunches and the wings will have gone by the time they've cooled enough!
Just looked at the BBC Weather app. A clean streak of sunny intervals for the next 9 days, with temperatures a fresh but not unpleasant 8-9oC. The grass in the garden is starting to look good.
Out riding today and saw so many others out walking and cycling and happy in the Spring sunshine. And the trees are bursting into leaf, so expect drying trails soon!
Need to get this back up top.
First weekend of life in the slow lane. Very odd but actually fun. Spent more time just kicking about in the garden with the kids than I ever have. Built a raised bed to grow some veg (more for the kid's education than any sort of self sufficiency). Drank some beers at lunch time in the sun. Got a bit of sun burn.
Took advantage of the sun/wind to get some laundry on the line. Probably a last solo road ride today before lockdown.
Sun is shining, kids doing homework, about to wash cars and bikes in the hazy sunshine
Treehouse is coming on
Its not what most people are posting but I have seen some lovely generosity of folk. From Macruisekeen on here cancelling his tenants rent to the multiple offers I got from friends to shop for me as I went into isolation to a whatsapp group for my parents locality where their neighbours are helping them in lockdown.
yes selfish aresholes are making the headlines but I have been truly impressed and humbled by the way folk are rallying round to help others.
I said two weeks ago this situation will bring out the worst in a few but the best in most.
Sadly the news only cares about the worst and the idiots, not those shopping for others, offering help and support etc.
I’m self isolating but have managed to help with work (NHS) stuff remotely, serviced my bike, got into Zwift (great fun btw), got to know all our neighbours via WhatsApp (everyone has a similar sense of humour, which is great).
Red kites flying overhead in the sunshine at the moment 🙂
Just finished recording the bass part of a Mozart Anthem and sent it off to be edited into the virtual choir our musical director has set up. The finished article will be put online for virtual services.
just visited Lidl and either the idiot hoarders have run out of money or space at home to store any more food. most stuff was well stocked. hurrah for belgian waffles
We got the Wii down out the loft, and my 13 and 16 year olds have been playing and laughing most of the afternoon.
A much needed sound at the moment!
First ride of the year in both short sleeves and non-waterproof shorts.
This needs an update
Turns out that when she is not stressed out with work, MrsMC is still worth being married to.
LittleMissMC is part of a gymnastics display team. The girls should be ramping up training to attend EuroGym in Iceland this July, but it's been postponed till next year.
Instead they've quietly put together a video of them each performing bits of the routine at home and cut it with photos from last year's trip to Gymnaestrada in Austria. Every one of the team is in there, they've included the new young girls as well. Then they sent the video to their coaches as a surprise, who've now shared it.
Properly dusty in here, so proud of her being part of such a supportive team at an age when teenage bitching might be more likely.
And eldest keeps getting messages of thanks from the (mainly) older and vulnerable customers on his paper round - even though the papers are an hour later now he doesn't have to go to college as well.
In another thread. I quit my job in January and was due to start a new one next week. That contract got pulled last week. No redundancy, no government money beyond JSA.
Amongst applying for jobs and thinking about working in Tesco I've been looking for other options and saw one on the Martin Lewis show. Ask you old employer to take you back and furlough you so they can pay you and claim government bailout. Would you believe it, they actually did!! So I'm now going to be getting paid again! What a weight to have lifted.
Result!
Noise pollution is down - The dawn chorus can be heard in towns and cities now.
Air pollution is lower - Very little smog over big cities.
Light pollution seems to be better. When the skies are cloudless, night skies seem to be clearer for viewing.
My sense of smell seems to be returning a little.
