I went out to feed the hedgehogs a little while ago and was distracted by a ruckus in the big oak tree. A pair of red kites mating. It really is all go round here.
I was struggling to find time to visit my allocated raptor monitoring area last year so I’ve changed to one that includes my garden. Much easier!
Having heard the amount of flapping and rustling that goes on when wood pigeons mate, I can't imagine how noisy a pair of kites are!
As Alfred likes to say, most birdsong is actually saying "F*** off! F*** me!"
We do refer to a trip to the tip as 'date night'....
@pengfold @Maker_of_Things @helenclayton @IcooIey
That's a good solution!
You can see a real cross section of people at a motorway services. I'm always intrigued by people who seem to be travelling in pyjamas...
@suearcher @Maker_of_Things @helenclayton @IcooIey The van is fairly old, but we like it. Each time we use it for something that would otherwise need a hotel stay, I put £100 aside as money saved. A few weeks ago, the alternator blew. Fixing that, and getting some other work done for the MOT, wasn't cheap. But the "not a hotel" slush fund just about covered it.
In a few months time, we'll have paid off the financing on our solar panels, and we can start saving for a better van to convert. For now, it's doing the job, though.
And yes, discovering motorway services was a real eye opener. They're almost all around £15 for the night, with showers included (so quite a bit cheaper than a camp site) and are, obviously, in fairly convenient locations. The only one we tend to avoid, on our usual trips, is Lymm because it's fairly busy all night and can be a bit loud as a result.
@pengfold @Maker_of_Things @helenclayton @IcooIey
That's a really good way of working it, putting some money aside each time.
It hadn't really occurred to me that one could overnight like that at services, unless one was an HGV driver.
Helen Clayton
Sue Archer
IcooIey
Alfred Chow - Maker of Things
Alun Jones