Killer tortoise!

I can't decide if this tortoise is brave or utterly stupid but either way it appears to have the upper hand! Heh.

Sunset in suburbia

(Clickable)

The week upside down

If only we could live each week upside down...that is to say that we worked only the weekends and had the week off to do as we please..... This I doubt somehow is a new philosophy though!

This last weekend I had the best time, an amazing, fabulous, relaxed, fun weekend, full of good food, alcohol (ok, not so much of that in my case, I'm a serious lightweight), lots of sleep, lots of laughter and most of all excellent company. You know the kind of weekend I mean, the ones where the rest of the crap that is life seems a million miles away and just for too short a time you actually begin to believe life is good again, that there might just be a light at the end of the seemingly unending tunnel.

It's been quite some time since I felt so happy, since somehow I managed to eradicate all the worry that usually fills my mind and feel for a time that I am floating on air as opposed to dragging my feet through mud.

But as ever we are never satisfied are we, the all too brief reminder of how good things can feel throws real life back into a stark relief on a Monday morning and whilst somehow one would wish for the 'feel good factor' to improve an early morning outlook in a contrary way it makes it all the harder!

Yeah I know, someone is gonna tell me that if that were the case, if happy were the norm then I would no longer truly appreciate it...but hey, I'd take my chances! ;o)

An empty nest

Finally it seems that my egg-less nesting swan has, after over two months of patiently waiting on her nest, realised that there are no eggs and has left.

I'll miss seeing her everyday now, I had got used to checking on her daily but it was sad to see her perched there week in week out to no avail so the fact that she has at last realised and has gone back to the water and her usual life is a happier situation.

Hold my hand!

As I have been accused of concentrating way too much on the peacocks of late and as my recent cat 'situation' has changed I thought I had better go for something else.

Ok....so it's still mammalian but hey......you know me, cats may be my passion but anything with fur or feathers (and less than eight legs) comes a close second!

Enjoy. :o) (Watch to the end)

Still on the subject of peacocks.....

....I am horrified to read THIS story in the press today! :o(

Seven healthy peacocks that has been resident at Paignton Zoo were culled yesterday on the basis of just one complaint.

The birds in question had escaped the immediate confines of the zoo some time ago and taken up residency in a nearby street where they had taken a liking to a particular tree for roosting purposes. It seems that whilst most residents were only too happy with their new neighbours, one (yes, just one) was unhappy, To be fair, for a few weeks in the spring during the mating season Peacocks make an almighty calling noise which is not particularly conducive to a sleeping 'late on a Sunday morning' but to cull the birds for this reason alone seems appalling to me.

The zoo and the local authority had tried all manner of solutions over time to placate the complainant but ultimately when they were threatened with litigation, as a charitable organisation, they were forced into this sad course of action.

I would so like to know the identity of the complainant in question and have a 'word' in their ear..... this story has particularly angered me but unsurprisingly, not only does this individual present a selfish and uncaring attitude but he or she is also a coward, requesting that their name not be released to the press!

Incidentally, these birds have been at the zoo for over 80 years and were there long before any of the houses affected were.

Hitching a ride!

Remember the peacock I came across on my daily manderings a week or two back?


......well today he was in evidence again, only this time hitching a ride on the back of a forklift truck!



Somehow it doesn't seem an appropriately elegant mode of transport for something so beautiful!

*Phone cam again...ugh apologies!

Shift happens!

Well I was gonna post this but 'someone' beat me to it so I'll just take the lazy option and direct you HERE instead! :o)

A special thank you....

.....to those of you who left such kind comments and sent emails on my post 'One year on'. It has been a tough year, a damn tough year and at a time when my self esteem and general state of 'whoopeee-ness' have suffered somewhat, your positive input and support makes a very big difference.

Thank you :o)

'Champagne Charlie'

Having read THIS article in a newspaper during in an idle moment earlier today, I just had to check out 'Holly's Blog'....the blog of a pregnant donkey and now also that of her two week old white foal.

The 'awwwwwwww factor' is signifigant I promise you. Hey, you know me......I'm a sucker for anything with fur or feathers and less than eight legs!!

Meet 'Nora'.....

......the piano playing cat!



You gotta love it! ;o)

*Thanks KC for the link.

Perfectly pink!

You know when you see something that is just perfect, well this is it for me....the perfect bike jacket;

Of course, it's just perfect if you discount the fact it's completely impractical, didn't fit too well, is ridiculously expensive in comparison to more usual designs and doesn't have trousers to match........ though I could of course argue that it's very high visibility!

Hey....I said perfect, not sensible! ;o)

A vote of confidence

So, it was a typical bank holiday weekend again in so much as the heavens opened and any ideas of relaxing in the sun for the holiday could be forgotten. Last week of course we enjoyed almost uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures nearing 80 degrees but as ever it seems, one mention of an extra day off work and the rains come!

As luck would (n't) have it my holiday weekend was destined to be spent in large proportion on the road, almost 600 miles of road to be more specific and a large proportion of that riding pillion, so it was on with the elegant 'plastic bag' (somehow those waterproof suits don't carry with them the same kind of street cred that leathers do!) regalia and hit the road for hours in torrential rain.

Now there isn't much I know much about in this world but there are two things I know alot about, the first is cats (though I seem not to know enough about holding onto them recently) and the second is bikes. I haven't really ridden for years but I am a much experienced pillion, I've probably done way more miles on the back of a bike, in all 'genres' of riding, than I ever have in a car and I know only too well that to ride in conditions like yesterdays, of torrential rain, blinding spray and enough lying water to make aqua-planing on four wheels a problem let alone on two is a very tall order....and to sustain it for hours on end requires a high degree of concentration and not a little skill on the part of the rider.

But ride it we did, or rather Fletch did and pretty impressively....... there is one thing above all else that is required by a pillion and that is complete and utter trust in ones rider, without it it's a 'no go', because lets face it, far more so than in a four wheel vehicle, every time you get on the back of a high performance bike you relinquish responsibility for your life to the guy/gal on the front end........hey no pressure there Fletch ;o).

But this isn't about me but rather a big vote of confidence in the 'guy on the front' who rode with great skill and immense concentration under some very demanding conditions ....like I said, I don't know much but I do know bikes and you know your stuff my friend!

One year on

Today marks a year since I made the decision to leave Scotland, at times it seems like no time at all but at others it seems like a lifetime ago.

The day I left was a very difficult one for all of the obvious reasons but I think with the benefit of hindsight, whilst I anticipated my immediate future would be likely very hard, I didn't anticipate quite how hard it would be or just how many hurdles I would have to get over along the way.

I really didn't think for instance that I would have to declare myself bankrupt, I thought that ultimately I would find another way, I didn't imagine that a year on I would still be living with my parents and I certainly never anticipated the very worst of the problems I encountered.....that I would lose Tilly. But I did.

There were many things I didn't anticipate, some I have blogged about over the year, some I have not because they invade the privacy of others or are just too personal for even me to put out on the world wide web. There have been moments when I began to be live I wouldn't make it, there have been small triumphs, there has been many tears and dark times but there have been some truly amazing times too and maybe along the way I have learnt a little.

One thing I have learnt for sure is that it's when the crap hits the fan that you discover who in your life can truly be relied upon, regardless of how difficult things get and just how important those people are. I have had hammered home to me the value of the small things in life, of noticing the sunrise, the raindrops on a leaf, a rabbit running or the sight of a newborn calf laying in the grass. Without those small daily pleasures I think I might have gone mad at some times when all I seemed to do for weeks on end was worry about one thing or another.

Many, many things have surprised me but most of all what has surprised me is that I have made it through this far....whilst still maintaining some degree of sanity. I have climbed mountains I never thought I could and coped with situations, sometimes well and sometimes very badly, that had you asked me a year ago I wouldn't have thought I could deal with at all. But cope I did, one way or another.

It's not been a year that I would like to re-live but there have been some high points and some very special times and for those, and those who made them possible I am extremely grateful, as I am to all who stuck by me and helped drag me kicking and screaming this far.

Maybe along the way I have become stronger, I hope so even if it is only a little stronger and maybe with a modicum of luck the next year will be an improvement on the last.

So.....Thank you to my small band of staunch supporters, you know who you are but you will never know just how much I appreciate you.