let's welcome in the summer time

Emmy knew the taste of that wine very well,
It all goes down so easily
But the next day is hell. . . 

Today is the first day of the school Summer holiday. Teachers up and down the land will be waking up to massive hangovers. I, of course, feel fine. Several members of our staff however may feel a little delicate this morning. I did have a few glasses of ale to celebrate the end of all the madness. And a few glasses of wine. We ended up at a colleague's house having a Thai takeaway. I had an excellent fish curry and it looks like it'll be a decent alternative for a Friday night takeaway  in the future. Anyway, I'm sure that there were many sensible teachers that went home and maybe shared a glass or two of wine with their loved ones but the feeling of having finally reached the end of a very hard climb was palpable amongst our staff.

I've been sitting in the garden this morning drinking coffee and watching the activity around me. There's a pigeon flapping around in a very agitated manner. I strongly suspect that a fledgling is about to part the nest. Meanwhile he's rushing around the garden like a vicar at a Garden Fete where the Mayor's wife's dress has fallen off (I witnessed something similar once outside Gloucester Cathedral at a wedding). Some sparrows were in a panic for much the same reason and there's a young looking gull flying very low over the garden squawking a lot. Meanwhile an ephemeral ghostly Large White butterfly is fluttering in and out of  gardens.

I've seen the fuchsia

Over recent weeks I've been trying to get a photo of such a butterfly in our garden but so far have failed hilariously. I downloaded this App to help the Earthwatch project. Thinking back to my last post, one thing I could never have done is be a wildlife photographer. Every time I get the camera opened on my phone the damned things have flown off. And butterflies are the most difficult creatures to capture if they won't settle on anything.  The amount of patience it takes to sit and wait for a perfect moment is far beyond my skittish temperament. Anyway, I came in to cool off as it was sweltering in the garden but the clouds have come over and cooled things down a little. Even the bird-life has quietened down for now. There are plenty of swifts on the wing quite high up. I've just failed again to capture

 two Large Whites, meanwhile this fella turned up which is unusual this close to the sea. He seems to like hanging around our place but won't settle.

It's time to start enjoying the summer now without having to go to school each day. I am aware that this is the moment in the year when I accept that there are some perks to the chosen profession. I'm not sure how much longer that will last if the current Education Secretary has anything to do with it. It has not escaped our notice that Lidl today posted a leaflet through the door advertising their "Back to School" section. Meanwhile, the media is in a frenzy at the arrival of Prince Macbeth and I was already fed up with it before it happened. But for now we need to be preparing to go to the Cambridge Folk Festival get on with enjoying whatever type of summer we're given.

Cheers!

God bless Aunt Mary Moses
With all her power and might-o
Send us peace in England
Send us peace by day and night-o