Spinning a web in the morning

I failed to blip yesterday by minutes. I went to visit Pip in Bristol for the evening so we could get up in the morning to watch the rugby. We have known each other since we were teenagers, so it was really good to have time together, sipping (ha!) drinks, chatting, trying slowly to solve a cryptic crossword before eating a delicious simply baked spread of chicken and vegetables, with loads of sweet tasting garlic cooked in their skins. The music was good too.

The rugby today wasn't very good, yet again. At half-time we were having another dose of coffee when Pip's friend Jeremy, who had joined us to watch the game, told me there was a possible picture of a large spider spinning its web in the sun. I grabbed the camera with the already attached 50mm and took a few shots. I could see several of the spider's legs moving the various threads it had already spun. It seemed to weave a new thread in and out, bending the web backwards to pass the thread around the back. You can sort of see it here, but it was the series of motions that was so impressive. It was heading from the outside in a decreasing spiral towards the centre. I touched the edge of the web at one point, and the spider immediately headed for the centre and stayed motionless waiting for a possible prey to get stuck to its web. A couple of drops of morning dew were still present clinging on near the centre.

After the game had ended with England scraping a win at the last minute, Pip drove us down to the the oldest part of Bristol city centre, to explore and buy a new tool. It was interesting for me to be back in a busy urban centre after living in the relatively quiet of the country area where we live. I enjoyed our couple of hours walking there, but was pleased to see the fields on the rolling Cotswold hills as I drove back along the old road from Bath. I listened to a Raymond Chandler dramatisation which I always enjoy.

I have to go to London tomorrow for the day, so more urban views then. I may have to go to work there for a couple of weeks, which will be a bit of a shock.