Opening the floodgates plus bottom update

Now that I have taken off all of the various bits of comment censorship and approval I have not surprisingly started to get a lot more interaction on the blog. I knew this would happen, I should have made the change a long time ago. Oh well, live and learn. Two recent comments from readers are shown below. In addition to being topical, interesting and highly relevant, I was astonished to find that they were plastered with links to other websites! Websites that unlike mine had no connection to birding whatsoever. The very cheek! I've removed them for the purpose of publishing them here, but I'm actually wondering if Mr/Miss P Islam might not be interested in birds at all!

Pinky Islam has left a new comment on your post "Making money out of birds": 

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However My Kiều is clearly a very keen birder as you can see below....

My Kiều has left a new comment on your post "Pope flees to Turkey":

Với sự phát triển của thương mại điện tử, quý khách hàng muốn mua những mặt hàng tại Nhật Bản. Nhưng vì khoảng cách, thời gian, tiền bạc, những điều bất thuận lợi làm quý khách không thể mua được những món hàng tại xứ sở hoa anh đào này. Vậy hãy sử dụng
nhận ship hàng từ nhật về việt nam
ship đồ từ nhật về việt nam
nhận ship hàng từ nhật về tphcm
nhận chuyển hàng từ nhật bản về việt nam
dịch vụ vận chuyển hàng từ nhật về việt nam
dịch vụ ship hàng từ nhật về việt nam
nhận ship hàng từ nhật về hà nội
Dịch vụ mua hàng - order hàng -chuyển hàng từ Nhật về Việt Nam nhanh chóng, an toàn, tiết kiệm được nhiều chi phí.
Hoặc quý khách có thể sử dụng dịch vụ fado mua sắm các mặt hàng tại amazon Nhật hoặc Mỹ.

No, I don't know either, but I am supposing it has nothing to with either the Pope or birds, and probably more to do with the import of cheap goods, or worse, from Vietnam. Much as I would have liked to have clicked on the links in the name of research, these days you just don't know what that might do, and it could prove to be a costly mistake. It didn't translate into anything either, so remains a mystery.

Anyhow, on to my bottom. I am pleased to say that it no longer hurts at all. No, I can hop on and off the bike at will and my posterior is absolutely fine with that. My knees on the other hand... This is the trouble with throwing oneself into physical exertion with no preparation, indeed with many years of frankly un-preparation, if I may be allowed to make up a word. I am gamely getting on with it however, and today my birding list moved up by one with the addition of a twitched Stonechat on the way to work. This is an annual bird in Wanstead that you would be hopeful of always getting, but it is the first wintering bird for ages and so is a bit special. It came with the added bonus of an extra kilometer, taking my morning ride to a colossal 10.7km. In a fit of enthusiasm I then came home a somewhat roundabout way and upped that to an even more colossal 11.7km! It has the potential to become addictive, and if this is what winter is like, summer could see me coming home via Rainham. Or the Naze!

Cycling to work has also made me a better driver almost instantly. Not that I was a poor driver before, but I am so much more conscious of cyclists and pedestrians after only a few days - things other than cars. I think all London drivers should be made to cycle to work for a week, with an annual refresher, it would work wonders for safety. Anyway, despite being a driver myself I am beginning to develop some pet hates to do with cars. These can be covered in another post as I have wittered on for long enough and all I had really wanted to say was that my backside was fine, and thank you for asking. Oh, and I think that large supermarkets and dead high streets are a really good idea - again, a topic for another day.

There we go, a blog post with nary a bird in sight. Normal service is resumed.