One of many

I'm so pleased - the sparrows are back. I became very slack over the last few months regarding the bird feeders. The squirrels had attacked them one by one and gradually they'd fallen into disrepair in the undergrowth where the squirrels had wrestled them from their perches. A week or so ago, I picked them all up, washed them, put them back together and placed them in new positions around the back garden. The most popular position isn't in the old place, but in a new area in the apple tree. This is where this sparrow is perching. He's checking that he has the all-clear for the feeder. He and his friends had just chased off a chirpy, chattering flock of long-tailed tits who I had failed to photograph. Each one had placed themselves teasingly behind a few leaves and I hadn't been able to focus on any one of them. The great tits, blue tits and coal tits, and the robin are back, too. Hooray!

The weather has been bonkers today. One minute it's sunny (out on the bicycle, table tennis in the park), then it's pouring down (luckily in a cafe, outside but under cover, by the hastily evacuated lido - it was a lightning storm).

Fred and I encountered two bad car drivers today and each was a witness to the other's close encounter. I spotted a guy about to run into me side-on at a roundabout - I was crossing in front of him and had right of way, but he didn't see me until he felt my very cross stare. He stopped, but he didn't apologise. Fred had a closer encounter. A car cut him up and practically drove into him, but he managed to cycle on to a traffic island - I say cycle, but he really tipped sideways, such was the lack of space between car and bicycle. Fred caught up with the guy and had an altercation. The guy drove on. Fred cycled up to him again and the guy finally apologised. I hope the next time the driver sees the opportunity to get just slightly but not really ahead of a cyclist on a narrow road, he realises that he shouldn't do it. Rant over.