Cold Sunrises

The weather has turned decidely chilly at night recently, which has prompted me to buy a Chris Packham on Autumnwatch type quilted jacket. Obviously it's not a flash North Face one like he has, but a synthetic down variant reduced to £20 in Millets, but hopefully it will keep me warm in the hard winter we are reckoned to have in store for us.

The consequence of the cold mornings is that we've had some lovely sunrises, the view from the railway bridge was spectacular this morning but tricky to photograph from a moving bike without breaking all your limbs. So you will have to make do with the photo I've taken.

Watched some kind of raptor do a night-time flyover a couple of nights ago, a ghostly pale sight in the streetlight glow of town. It glided strongly with only of beats of its wings. No idea what it was, peregrine maybe.

No idea they flew at night either.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 22.10.19

A Day with Freya

Yesterday I spent the day outside at work, administering a day when staff could get their bikes checked over and any small repairs done for free.

I'd like to say when I was doing it this time last week it was an idyllic spring day, but the sun wasn't shining where I was and it was freezing. Yesterday, we were exposed to the howling scream of Storm Freya for ten hours outside, and although the wind died down during the day a little, it was still bitterly cold.

Like turn my hands purple cold. With gloves on.

We had squally bursts of rain, and brief vision of rainbows until  the sun set and the dark came, and thetemperature dropped further...

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.03.19

The Clouds! The Pain!

I went to the park for a lunch time cup of tea- nothing terribly exciting there I'm afraid, apart from the fact that the black-headed gulls were incredibly noisy and sounded like the gull-like screeches on "Echoes" by Pink Floyd.

I wonder how it gets decided which gulls get their black heads back first - is it a testosterone thing, like some form of avian puberty? Who knows?

The cloudscapes on yet another scuddy day were spectacular.

The early evening was taken up with cricket practice where again I bowled well, and batted horribly if not as horribly as last week. The main issue was my foot, which was fine last week, but this evening flared up really badly as I made an awkward step while delivering the ball.

Hence, it's rolling myfoot on a tennis ball time again.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 10.02.19

Striking Clouds

Well, I've very much gone down with a heavy cold after all that resistance sapping exposure to cold weather last week. As ever, the acheyness and heavy headedness recedes a little after a couple of days, to be replaced with a near paralyzing cough. I have had severe coughs on average twice a year ever since I can remember, right back into childhood.

I have no idea why they get so bad.

Luckily when I do rhythmic exercise it doesn't seemso bad - I'm okwhen I'm cycling for real or on the trainer. However, as soon as I stop I sound like  a 19th century TB sanitarium.

Work has therefore been a pretty embarrassing experience, as folk can hear me coughing nearly all the time, even if I go and hide outside. But, as ever, I made it through the day, a day where I watched buzzards from the office window, and behind them a small echelon of pink footed geese heading NE< migrating home to breed.

Oh, and some great cloudscapes.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 

Riverside Walkings

It had rained overnight, and it did so again today.

But it was light, and curiously refreshing rain, so I rather enjoyed it as I walked out towards Farndon, and came back in along a river reflecting dramatic cloudscapes as various weather fronts moved over.

There wasn't anything amazing to see, just the boats parked up in front of the houses that back onto the Trent. A few gulls sat ornamentally on various vantage points, and noisy mallards squawked their way around the watercourses.

I didn't do any geocaching, but I did find a different sort of treasure. At Sconce Park, they have have had children paint up some stones and hide them around the grounds, and today I came across one in the charming sign for the mini reserve of Hawton Holt.

I wonder where the rest are? I hope I find a few more, I like being able to come across things like this.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 20.11.17

An Evening in the Rain

My back is sore, a sort of slightly knitting needle stabby pain at the top of my left buttock. Lovely.

This has kept me going running this week, as I try and save my rather tired body for my last cricket league game tomorrow. How long ago it seems since we started this season, in the cold of early May.

The summer never really got much better.

Tonight I had intended to go for a bike ride, but as soon as I got home from work, the rain came down from evil skies, so I decided to take my new rucksack, and slip on some wet weather gear as soon as was required while I was on the move.

Actually, I needed my sex kag as soon as I walked out the door.

I followed my two lakes route, mainly walking but with a few jogged sections just to try and loosen up the muscles ready for tomorrow. In my unflatteringly tight running tights, my stomach wobbled too much for my taste and everything was horribly stiff. Still I was out there for two hours, minus a brief stop for Aldi Prosecco.

Which I'll probably never drink.

The moth is a centre barred sallow, a good find apparently. It's lovely.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.09.17