Fare thee well

I was so sad to hear the news on the radio this morning that Ursula Le Guin had passed away. I've loved the Earthsea books from when I was about 10 years old or so. This evening, I dug them out again and I'm tempted to re-read them soon, despite the huge towers of To Be Read books that are threatening to take over the flat.

My morning's commute was less than smooth. It was a bit blustery out and there was a smattering of rain so all the trains had a hissy fit. My first train was so late that it decided to go full pelt towards Clapham Junction. This meant I couldn't catch my connection at the station it rushed through. At Clapham, the trains were either cancelled or so busy I couldn't get on one until much later. Luckily, we're all super-connected these days, so I logged into my work email and began taking part in the working day despite being wedged into a carriage on the 9.38 to Waterloo. Goodness, it's like I'd travelled from outer Mongolia rather than 8 miles south.

Grumble over and the rest of the day went too fast, but stuff got done. I had an outing with Ray to Peter's Café in Covent Garden Market. Peter does a mean chips and beans and two toasts, and a hot Ribena, of course. Ray almost got blessed by a dropping passed by an opportunistic pigeon perching on the canopy of the caff, but he tucked in his arm just in time. By the end of the lunch hour, Ray had accumulated two small pigeon feathers as a bonus to his lunch.

I'm home alone for a few days. Fred's off up to Inverness to visit the house there and see what's what. I thought I'd have Juno's company, but he's nowhere to be seen. I can hear him snoring under the bed. Tch. He's no doubt been up to shenanigans. At breakfast I heard a terrific prolonged screeching so I went out to investigate. Two magpies were giving Juno a heck of a row and no wonder – he was almost at the top of the giant pear tree! He came down no problem when called and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the screeching stopped. Silly cat.