Tag Archives: Robins

Numbers, Ornithology and a Senior Moment

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Robin at Clumber, Nottinghamshire

Sorry, I really did mean to become more regular, and to get round and wish everyone the compliments of the season before it happened. As usual, me and my good intentions didn’t quite gel. So I hope you all had a good Christmas, and go on to have a great New Year.

I just noticed that my last post was my 3,500th. As you know, this has no real significance, but I always like to see a round number.  3,500 is so much better than 3,499, and also better than 3,501, despite being a smaller number. It’s a minor achievement on my way through life, so I won’t mention it again. Other people have written more. Some people have posted fewer times and managed a much higher quality. Some are much more regular and disciplined. That’s life. We’re all different. Some of us, for instance, take childish pleasure in round numbers.

The reason I used bird photos yesterday, as you probably guessed, was because we have started feeding the birds in the new garden. So far it has been a bit quiet, but it is showing signs of building up.

So far (this is now the fifth day) we have had blue tits, robins, great tits, long-tailed tits, dunnock, blackbird and pigeon. The pigeon can’t work out how to get at the food. We have also had magpies, but they haven’t yet attempted to feed.

Robin at Arnot Hill Park

It will take a while for the visits to build up, then I will start complaining about the amount they eat. At the moment the weather is mild, there seems to be plenty of food about and I imagine that most people round here have feeders so there won’t be a shortage of bird food.

The robins met whilst hopping along the back wall. One started posturing. The other, which I believe is the current owner of the territory, puffed up to double in size and the interloper flew off. You see all sorts of things when you are washing up.

We had frozen vegetarian nut roast for Christmas dinner, as my sister came round. It’s easier for us to become temporary vegetarians than it is to force-feed her meat. I prepared red cabbage with apple and onion and Christmas spices the day before then did potatoes. carrots, parsnips, sprouts and leeks on the day, using a list of timings as a guide. The potatoes, which I did properly (par boiled, knock the edges about, hot oil etc) turned out well. The gravy, which came with the nut roast, was not so good. The sachets, which I heated up with the carrots, both split and released the gravy. Fortunately we were able to make an alternative vegetarian gravy.

Then, twenty minutes after the meal was over, it struck me. I had forgotten to reheat the red cabbage. Senior moment alert . . .

Robin, Arnot Hill Park

 

Phlebotomy Friday. Again.

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I woke several times during the night and at 5.48 decided it wasn’t worth going back to bed as the alarm was set for 6.30. This allowed me to have an unhurried breakfast, a reflective cup of tea and a few minutes answering comments. What it didn’t allow, was a parking space when I went for my blood test.

Parking has been getting tighter down there, and this wasn’t a total surprise, though it in’t normally full by 7am. It is supposedly a car park for visitors only, but I’m not sure this is true. When they first made it free they had a staff member on the entrance checking that you were a visitor. Since that check has been abandoned it has been steadily more difficult to find parking. The cynic in me, seeing a variety of clues inside the cars, and seeing drivers dressed in NHS uniform, tends to think the staff are ignoring the notices and taking the spaces meant for visitors.

The other part of me, the part that wants to believe they are all heroes and angels, doesn’t want to believe it. “Say it aint’ so, Joe!” my inner, innocent, self cries out.  However, when I think back to the times I have been in hospital, including the time I was left glued to the bed by dried blood despite a request for help, I do start to wonder. If they are capable of leaving me stuck to my bedding, they are certainly capable of stealing my parking space.

I will, however, cut them some slack, because they generally do a good job and it’s a lovely day. The sun is shining, there was minimal ice on my screen this morning and the Robins were singing in the hospital garden.

The blood test, performed with the panache odf a world class fencer, took mere seconds. Touché, you could almost hear her cry.

And now, having got home in time to write a post, I will go to work.