Another one down

Another five days down, another two for me. This is what it is all about. Tomorrow holds very little, mucking around with the kids and attempting to stay warm in the house. And Sunday, well let's just say that a big twitch could be on. At this stage I'm not entirely sure, but I feel a lot better than I was expecting to after finishing Wednesday night with 40 hours under my belt. In fact the last two days have been almost a breeze in comparison, and only once did I feel that the world had gone slightly mad, which was when an auditor who was auditing me was deeply unimpressed upon seeing that I used a pencil and a piece of paper to collect a few stats and then do some simple addition and subtraction. I strongly suspect that this frankly heinous crime is going to get written up and that I am going to get made to ceremoniously snap my pencil in half in front of the whole office or something. It probably didn't help when I asked if using a pen would make her feel any happier, and which colour was the most approved. Secretly they must all work for Microsoft. Bah.

That aside, I've generally been happier and more rounded this week. I've been enjoying some top-class birding crap on twitter, including an increasingly acrimonious Lee who appears very bitter that Baggers is leaving Lee's club to form his own, complete with its own list of lists. That Baggers cannot see that this can only end one way only adds to the amusement, but it is slightly sad to see grown men squabble so. Not that I'm one to talk mind you. I've also been enjoying learning about Stonechat taxonomy, which bored the crap out of me, and about Duskygate somewhere in Devon, which also ultimately bored the crap out of me. The story is the usual one of a rare bird being discovered in a certain place, and news being withheld. That the reason for the non-dissemination of news is entirely legitimate is irrelevant, and there has been much grumbling, in no small part due to the post-departure appearance of a number of really rather crippling shots of it. But also because the bird wasn't quite 100% surpressed. In other words what happens every time. Finder calls his mate, who calls his good mate, and very soon half a dozen people have popped round for a cuppa and all hope of an amicable ending has evaporated. I was reading it all thinking "ooh this is interesting!" until I realised that I was simply re-reading a thread I'd read before and that I would learn nothing new at all about human nature.

I have seen no birds. This is not unusual at all for a working week, and I am not bitter. Gnnnnnnnnh. Honestly, what a pain! Impossible, or very nearly so, to get up early enough to make birding worthwhile, and in any event the bed is so very warm and cozy, and then darkness descends when I'm only halfway through my working day (sadly I am not exaggerating). Since snaffling the Treecreeper a couple of weeks ago I've not been on the patch more than a couple of times, but I've gained a bit of breathing space in the unofficial competition due to the Lesserspot being withdrawn in favour of not really sure, following a number of people hunting the Treecreeper down and poking it until it produced the desired noises. All very strange, but ultimately rather sad that Lesserspot appears to have disappeared from Wanstead, long considered a London stronghold. For a while I held out hope of getting it on the garden list, but I think like cooperative birding (and, apparently, a favourite blog) in South Devon, that one's gone for the timebeing.

Oh, and I no longer like cricket.