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I tried to meet the dawn but I didn’t get to bed until 4.00, so had a short walk at lunchtime. It’s eventime in the old cottage. The cats curled up on the armchair. The dawter’s in the bath. The ‘oosbind’s preparing supper in the kitchen. The stove is roaring and the house is warm. … Read more

Sunday January 23rd At 7.00a.m.I stood in the bathroom – ‘should I stay or should I go?’ After the briefest of washings I decided that the dawn chorus needed me. So I fed the cat and ventured out. It was still dark. The birds were just revving up. By 7.57 the sun was rising, although … Read more

Saturday January 22nd February 1st is the beginning of 2022’s Chinese New Year, ‘The Year of the Tiger.’ I only mention this because eighteen years ago, on January 22nd 2004, ‘The Year of the Monkey’ my father, aged 83, went to the monkey sanctuary in the sky. This morning the old git took me out … Read more

We went to Aldi. ‘They’re better than Lidl Cheaper than Waitrose Bigger than Tesco Cleaner than Morrisons Fresher than Sainbury’ Says everybody. So we went to Aldi – which is about 6 miles away – although the old git said the way we went today it was more like ten miles. We went to Aldi … Read more

Thursday 20th January Last night, after watching a film about Siegfried Sassoon, I took my sneezy self to bed, held the old git’s hand and let Dennis squeeze between us. Twas asleep before 3.00a.m. I turned the alarm off knowing I had to get some proper shuteye. The dawn dawned without me and the sun … Read more

Wednesday 19th of January. The lateral flow test said NO. So I carried on sneezing and fell into bed by 2.00a.m. This morning I shouted back at the voices shouting at me from the radio, pushed myself to get out of bed, dressed and left for the dawn chorus. 7.53 was sunrise, one minute earlier … Read more

Tuesday 18th January At 7.15 this morning the Wolf Moon was still hanging in the sky like a massive dirigible. As bright as last night and as huge, it hung over the farm and followed me round my walk. By 7.52, as the sun rose from behind perfectly formed clouds, the mist cleared, but that … Read more

Monday January 17th. Tonight we have a WOLF MOON. ‘The January full moon is traditionally called the Wolf Moon because wolves can be heard howling at the moon more around this time of year. It was believed that wolves howled more during the winter due to hunger. However, howling can also be a sign of … Read more

Sunday 16th January The Peters’ Principle: Rising to a level of respective incompetence. Do you remember Martin Shkreli the nasty 38 year old owner of ‘Retrophin’, a humungous drug firm. He was, for a time, the poster boy for unfettered capitalism. In September 2015, Shkreli bought the manufacturing license for the anti parasitic drug ‘Daraprim’. … Read more

Saturday 15th of January I sat bolt upright – it was 7.17 the precise moment that dawn arrived. Set my phone alarm and left the house to see the sunrise at 7.57. The dawn arrives one minute earlier every day. By February 1st I’ll be springing out of bed at 7.00 on the button. I … Read more