I was glued to the radio today. Wild horses could not have dragged me away. With very few exceptions - for instance a couple of the final days in the 2005 Ashes tests, and Nathan Astle's awesome double-hundred in Christchurch in 2002 - I cannot remember a more exciting passage of play in a test match. Geoffrey was almost uncontrollable - four wickets fell in his spell! Amazing stuff.
However where wild horses would not have succeeded, a Bonxie in London would most certainly have done. There is a radio in the car after all. What a shame then that I was so captivated that I neglected to look at my pager all day.
Yep, a Great Skua sat on the river at Rainham today for the better part of four hours, and for all of those four hours I too sat on something. My arse. Arse. By the time I got a text from SHS regarding his success at connecting it was almost dark, and a brave yet foolish dash to Rainham saw me dip and get very wet. Bugger. Now I've seen hundreds of Great Skuas, including a very close encounter on Mull earlier this year, so you may ask why I am so particularly annoyed? Alternatively some of you may be able to guess why....
Yes, obsessive geek that I am, I have never seen a Great Skua....... in London. Nope, never seen one within an entirely arbitrary and pointless twenty mile circle centred on St Paul's Cathedral. And I want to. Hence I am annoyed. I haven't missed much this year, Great Skua is somewhat of a London mega, and on day I was doing diddly squat I didn't bother looking at a pager that I pay good money for to tell me these things. And it isn't like I was doing anything virtuous like volunteering at a OAP centre or damp dusting. I was sat listening to TMS and playing with lego. Bugger.
I'm crossing my fingers that it is still around tomorrow. The weather this afternoon was on the horrible side of miserable, visibility incredibly poor, so perhaps it won't bother trying to find its way out and will stay close to the thousands of poor defenceless gulls. I live in hope, and will be trying to find it tomorrow. And the Kittiwake..... BUGGER!!!!
What, you want a photo? Oh OK then, you've twisted my arm. Bird related? Not necessarily? Gratuitous? Not on this blog! As if! Something topical you say? How about this?
However where wild horses would not have succeeded, a Bonxie in London would most certainly have done. There is a radio in the car after all. What a shame then that I was so captivated that I neglected to look at my pager all day.
Yep, a Great Skua sat on the river at Rainham today for the better part of four hours, and for all of those four hours I too sat on something. My arse. Arse. By the time I got a text from SHS regarding his success at connecting it was almost dark, and a brave yet foolish dash to Rainham saw me dip and get very wet. Bugger. Now I've seen hundreds of Great Skuas, including a very close encounter on Mull earlier this year, so you may ask why I am so particularly annoyed? Alternatively some of you may be able to guess why....
Yes, obsessive geek that I am, I have never seen a Great Skua....... in London. Nope, never seen one within an entirely arbitrary and pointless twenty mile circle centred on St Paul's Cathedral. And I want to. Hence I am annoyed. I haven't missed much this year, Great Skua is somewhat of a London mega, and on day I was doing diddly squat I didn't bother looking at a pager that I pay good money for to tell me these things. And it isn't like I was doing anything virtuous like volunteering at a OAP centre or damp dusting. I was sat listening to TMS and playing with lego. Bugger.
I'm crossing my fingers that it is still around tomorrow. The weather this afternoon was on the horrible side of miserable, visibility incredibly poor, so perhaps it won't bother trying to find its way out and will stay close to the thousands of poor defenceless gulls. I live in hope, and will be trying to find it tomorrow. And the Kittiwake..... BUGGER!!!!
What, you want a photo? Oh OK then, you've twisted my arm. Bird related? Not necessarily? Gratuitous? Not on this blog! As if! Something topical you say? How about this?
Where I should have been today but wasn't and am irrationally annoyed about.
I didn't check any bird news until early evening - I too am mightily pissed off, to put it politely. I wasn't even doing anything much, or at least nothing that couldn't have been done another time. Most unfortunately I am doing something tomorrow, though I will endevour to get my arse to Rainham at some point...
ReplyDeleteIf the news is positive, of course.