Pond life

Will this dry weather never end? I'm starting to long for some rain, a) so that I don't have to keep watering the plants and b) so that I don't feel I have to be outside doing gardening.

Today it was the turn of the back (or side) of the house, depending on your perspective. It's always a bit of a wilderness but we do try and keep it under control. Mr Flossmo set to with secateurs and I did my usual job of gathering the cuttings and filling bags. Given that the garden waste bin is full and given that the collection due tomorrow is unlikely to happen (post bank holiday and all that) we decided to brave the dump. In the event it was almost empty and there was no bun fight for parking spaces. On the way back we called in at Cook and stocked up on this week's special - Steak Pie with red wine. 

Back home we sat in the garden with a cup of tea and watched the blue tits ravage the bird feeder. Interestingly, our pair of pigeons were also on standby and after the blue tits had finished their feeding frenzy one pigeon flew down to peck at the fallen crumbs on the ground whilst the other sat guard on the balustrade. At the pond the damsel flies were out in force and a newt was sunning himself on a rock. Later Woody Woodpecker put in an appearance hammering away at the bird feeder for all he was worth.  

This evening we watched the University Challenge final.  It was a good contest. We were grateful to answer a few questions and be able to protest that we're 'not past it yet'. Sad to see the last of Jeremy Paxman, though. He has been a great question master and I have always appreciated his caustic remarks. How I will get on with Amol Rajan next season remains to be seen. I guess he is no more supercilious than Paxman but there is something about him that leaves me cold. We will see.