I had a splendid week with my two outstanding hosts, who fed and spoiled me. I saw some of the Alps, the historic city of Berne, two stages of the TdF, countless wild flowers and insects (some of which bit), some mammals - admittedly - in captivity, some new species of birds and a nightmare journey home from Basel airport. P dropped me off about 3.00pm for a flight at 5.30. We eventually took off after 7.15pm nearly two hours late and made good time flying back only to have to wait over an hour in the plane because they were short of ground crews at Gatwick. I finally got home at 12.10am.
Friday was spent in transit to Switzerland, the transit bit not helped by road works on the M3 and poor sign posting, however I managed to find the car park and get myself to Gatwick where the usual two hours of boredom became three as my plane was delayed, according to QueasyJet, by the atrocity in Nice, the night before. Anyway, my broomstick finally landed at Basel and eventually I found the right exit where mine host was patiently waiting. The traffic to Bern was not helpful but we got there in time for lasagne - a favourite of mine.
On the 16th of July it being started on that day in 2007. Unfortunately I shall be away then but I thought you may be interested in sharing the date with me.
Um - sorry, I was out at an AGM for a mammal group I belong to and apart from getting elected on to another committee, I sort of got talking with our mammal records officer and got back a bit late to write Bike.
I was out dormousing this morning and we had six, I got to handle two and it was somebody else' turn to drop one of them instead of me. So here's a photo of one of the ones we had today (dormouse, I mean).
Cavendish takes his third stage win of this year's TdF to lie second only to Merckx in the number of stage wins at the tour. With his form as it is, who knows if he might even overtake that one day. He may not be Britain's greatest cyclist in some people's eyes but he has to be the most successful in terms of number of wins.
Each episode I write is breaking new ground as no one has written this amount over such a period before, at least in this genre and on this site. I have the support of Erin to continue posting this interminable saga, the transgender equivalent of watching paint dry, as long as I wish to continue. I suppose it has become something of a feature of the site alongside the reasonable literacy of its authors compared to some other sites.
The attached link is from quite a long article about intersex children and how they are and were treated in the UK. Sadly it sounds as if things still have a long way to go though in places they are getting better.
Wales, that mythical country west of England have just beaten Belgium 3 -1 in the European Championships to pass through to the semi finals. As they weren't expected to qualify, I'm rather pleased for them. Will they go all the way? I don't know as I think Germany and Italy are still there, but it would be a real fairy tale ending if they did. Cymru am byth, as we say.
I'll leave it to the others to post photos, but I thought I'd do a quick report just to show we all survived the ordeal.
Friday 24th: we all met up at the Trumpet Major Inn in Dorchester reacquainted ourselves with each other and had a nice meal before setting the agenda for the following day.
Sorry folks, been trying to do a short story for this weekend's Gabycon. I haven't written anything Gaby for the past year so it was a longer process than usual and I didn't have time to do any writing for Bike, episodes of which may be a bit sparse over the next few days as I help to entertain the Gaby fans who turn up here in darkest Dorset. The good news - the weather appears to be improving; the bad - my cycling isn't.
I'm not a soccer fan but Wales have managed to beat Russia 3-0 in the Euro 2016 championship and thus top the group ahead of England and Slovakia. Seeing as they haven't qualified for any major international championship in about 58 years, this is amazing for a little country like my homeland.
Fishermen traditionally have stories of minnows the size of blue whales that got away with no evidence to prove or disprove the stories. Today, while helping with a survey to find some dormeece for a Mammal Society course, two managed to escape from a box I was checking. The first one shot out the hole in the back of the box and up the tree it was on before dropping onto the ground - behaviour, neither of us surveyors had seen before. It then climbed up a piece of stick where it posed blinking, for us to photograph it.
An extract from a new book, not quite sure what I thought about her father from the portrait painted, but then people who survived the Second World War in eastern Europe dealt with some terrible experiences which were bound to have an impact on their lives. From its narrative the author doesn't pull any punches about her relationship with the complex and at times dark natured man who, eventually became a woman. Interesting.
I spent the morning walking up hill and down dale in woodland checking dormouse nest boxes. I suspect we probably checked about a hundred and fifty. We found two sharing a box, a male and female; both were torpid but equally gorgeous.
This I think is the male, who was slightly heavier.
and my head feels like a metal bucket stuffed full of cotton wool - in short, I feel like poo warmed up and only then because I had to put the heating on I felt so cold. I didn't sleep very well last night for the stupid tickly cough which kept waking me up, so an early night with a good book and an even better cat, is called for. Florence Whizzingale will be pressed into service.
I hope I shall feel a bit better tomorrow and I can add extra episodes of the story that Waif hates so much or is it just the author?
From the Guardian, the tale of how Ambrosia Starling caused suspension of Alabama's chief (and bigoted) judge over his refusal to allow gay marriage in the state.
I wasn't sure if this survey was going to take place because the forecast was so awful, cool and rather damp - as in heavy rain. However, when we met in the car park for Thorncombe Wood, just up from Hardy's Cottage (Thomas Hardy's birthplace), the rain had eased off to virtually nothing. The decision was we'd give it a go. A bit of a walk later we went on to the survey site, which was new to me and checked the boxes and tubes for dormice.
Sadly it stops at chapter 24 which is a pity because it's a good story. However, I'm not so worried about the story but curious as to what happened to justme, I know there were some domestic problems but has any one heard from her or know what happened to her?
After a stupid and annoying afternoon I've had a wonderful evening courtesy of The Dorset Chamber Orchestra who gave a concert in my local church - it's used for quite a few musical things because it has good acoustics.
Tonight after Legends 9 & 7 by Dvorak
Symphony in D by Arriaga
came the finale with Violin Concerto in D minor by Brahms with soloist Frida Backman, and she was excellent. This is one of the great violin concerti of the classical canon and a favourite of mine. For those who don't know it:
I am so close to committing murder I've had to sit down and scribble this to distract myself. I hung a line of washing out at 2.00pm at 4.00pm I notice my next door neighbour's tenant has lit a bonfire and is burning garden waste - it's like a scene from Sink The Bismark. I knew if I said anything and he answered back I'd be over the hedge and stuffing him on top of his stupid bonfire. He's a bit bonkers anyway but I shall speak to my neighbour when he comes back from holiday.
My washing is mostly dry but smells of smoke - bloody men(well some of them).
I've been out to the hedgehog group meeting this evening and feel it's too late to start writing Bike. Hopefully, I'll continue dealing with Cathy's dilemma tomorrow.
Writing Bike enables me to explore the realities of being transgender/transsexual as well as flights of fancy from time to time. While a shorter form would also enable some of this, it doesn't allow the depth of exploration, my soapy serial does. In the most recent story arc, we have a new transgender staff member who doesn't know Cathy's history, but who latches on to her like a younger sister or even daughter to learn the skills she doesn't have as a woman - things as diverse as homemaking and dealing with male attention.
I've been helping with the field work on the Mammal Society's Dormouse and Conservation course. Basically, we, the helpers, assist the course participants in checking the nest boxes--showing them how to do it and making sure anything in them which could be a dormeece is kept in the box until everyone has a chance to see it. To do that we plug the hole with moss temporarily which has no effect upon the dormouse.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
