Ne'erday

Today has felt strangely short - largely because it was. We didn't get up till much later than usual - I wasn't out of bed till 10am, though I was drinking tea and doing Italian and perusing social media. I had some porridge and a half slice of toast and loads more tea and had one look at the sun shining and was determined not to waste any more of it, the result of which was going out without having any coffee. A dire oversight. But it was lovely. The photo above was taken just as we began our walk up the road between the farms at Ardyne; we were entertained by great gangs of Canada geese in the fields on the left as one mob decided it was time for a bit of exercise just as we passed. They took off in ranks, squawking raucously, made a pretty disciplined circuit inland and returned to their own patch, falling silent the moment their feet touched ground. 

We shortened our walk there slightly lest we disturb a farm collie who was sitting at the end of a track eyeing us speculatively, so compensated by walking along the shore track (the one I photograph sunsets from). When we returned to the parking area we suddenly realised we knew the small crowd assembled in a circle there - all but three of them were former colleagues and one a former pupil who was also our boss's daughter and had been in our Ewan's class through grammar school. A great burst of hugging and new year wishes was followed by the kind of crazy random conversation that made my workplace such a stimulating and enveloping environment - and we were joined by another passing FP whom I would never have recognised. We stood blethering till the sun had set and a wind was blowing in the next weather system ...

Which is even now battering rain on the study window. We had an earlyish dinner (after I'd had coffee!) because of not having had lunch, and a couple of phone calls to/from our chaps. I'm still missing the family badly, but today was lovely. 

And did I mention that there was left-over melt-in-the-mouth venison and roast potatoes so that dinner was just a matter of reheating in the oven?