The main activity has been walking the dogs and hosting a Eurovision party which to be honest was an excuse to get together and have a bevy or ten. The final was a fizzer as we knew the result before the programme but the semi-final that we watched was the usual standard and of course the added excitement of that famous Australian singer who is so famous I cannot remember his name was an added spice. In the end though the it was just a glitz overload with crap tunes and naff lyrics, so normality reigns in euroz song thing as I refuse to believe that it’s a contest anymore.
Anyway just as an introduction I use the Clemens checklist for my life list and I just love putting dots against those that I’ve seen and I feel sad about dotless pages, but it gives me a bucket list of countries to visit for cultural experiences you understand like museums, churches and stuff. Yeah right. So it’s Venezuela, Cuba and Costa Rica here I come. Anybody game for a trip? In my old book I finished up with 2235 species and I haven’t finished the poll for the new one yet so it’s going to be a cliff hanger but the way the gulls have been splitting like amoeba in spring time I hope to increase the number. Are armchair ticks valid? I hope so cos I’m counting them. Having said that I also know I have lost a few ticks damn the lumpers we need more splitters. I shall keep people updated on this exciting theme. It was a real trip down memory lane while I relived the excitement of Guttulated Foliage Gleaners, Tufted Tit Babblers as well as various South American brown things that all looked alike.
I shall end this by giving a weather update. While the UK has been in a heat wave, only a two jumper spring instead of a three or four one we have been having a real Victorian start to winter. It has been simply stunning with sunshine and reasonably warm temperatures. Then there has been the flip side with rain, wind our first frosts of the year. And the other day I took the dogs for a walk I got absolutely soaked. Then the dogs went ballistic as they flushed a pretty big roo and all thought of a warm sofa were immediately banished as they watched potential dinner hop off into the bush. Then there was the reality check as a bloody snow flurry came roaring in. true it didn’t last long but by cracky it dropped the temperature pretty quick. Only three times have the dogs shown no interest in walking and this was the third. So a quick trot back to the car and they jumped in which was another rare event.
It was Carolinas insignificant birthday party last weekend. Caro is our Venezuelan friend who has just finished her PhD, yes the world is full of them, on Swamp Wallaby and Antechinus. So we had an afternoon party before we went over to Kyle and Julian’s foe evening drinks with a mutual friend from Albury Wodonga. All in all a very pleasant day. On the Sunday we decided to venture out into town to the Mining Exchange where there was an antiques fair being held. To say it was disappointing was an understatement, true it was the last day but I expected more than a few bits of Royal Doulton and Beswick tat at vastly inflated prices. Even if I was a collector I would have never bought from here.