WEEKLY CHAT (non osprey) SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2019

Hi all from a very wet and cold Suffolk. I have had old friends from Surrey here for the weekend. They had a bad start to the what should have been a 2.5 hr journey - turned into 5 hours.
One tunnel closed at Dartford tunnel causing a 9 mile tailback, then an accident on the A12 meant a diversion.
Thankfully I had done a beef casserole for dinner so by the time we sat down it was very thick and rich.

Yesterday my friend & I did another fundraising day at the local East of England Coop for Sarcoma UK, which is the type of cancer that my Daughter died from in 2017.
The East of England Coop are so good at supporting charities and provide a large trestle table and free hot drinks throughout the day. It was busy in the morning and there were lots of men carrying boxes of beer then when it came time for Rugby to start it was so quiet but every little helps and we were very grateful for the donations.

This morning we drove to Southwold hoping for a walk along the prom but the rain was horizontal so just had a drive around. They have now left and hopefully the journey back to Surrey will be uneventful.

Hope you all have a good week and the weather is good - either hotter of cooler depending on region.

Morning all:

AQ: I just dropped in on Canberra (thank you Google Earth); looks like a nice city with wide boulevards and lots of trees. And one thousand miles from Adelaide! Don't know why I'm surprised; that's just about as far away as Seattle.  Are domestic flights reasonably priced?  Interesting about the altitude/winds, etc. Have fallen short of Diane in that have not clicked on those links yet.

OG: Oh dear. Are we supposed to be saying interesting things? :-)  (To me, a shopping trip to M&S sounds interesting.)

Wendyb: Are you off to see the girls? Hope the weather is kind...

Harelady: Ugh. Sounds like a ghastly drive for your friends. How often do you hold the fundraisers? Was the the Rugby event part of it? Hugs to you.

Sneezing and spluttering this morning, but today the last of threatened showers will be gone and we can move the birdfeeders out from under the eaves....

ANNETTE Meeting both girls at eldests in Bath for 2 nights then youngest and I will go to hers in Weymouth for a night. Then I go solo to Bideford for a night before a helicopter ride to Lundy. After that a night in Worcester before driving back to Scotland. Weather looking damp but as we all know that can change.
Snowing at present but it’s melting on impact :-))

Sad news from Shetland Bird Observatory.

www.heraldscotland.com/.../

Mike I saw that in our local Press and Journal and was hopeful it wasn’t too bad...
Sadly not looking good :-(

OG – I hope you are able to get out tomorrow.

DIANE – Don’t apologise for your questions. They keep my grey cells active! 

HARELADY – Beef casserole. Yum. It set me thinking, nearly cool enough here to replace salads.

ANNETTE – No ideas what is the normal cost of Adelaide-Canberra flight. Googling gives return $4-500, while single “cheap” flights listed $175 (probably carry-on baggage only). If you want more info on Echunga, our tutor’s notes are with his pic. Or for more pics check his album of this area.

WENDY – Safe journey and enjoy your time with your girls.

LYNETTE - I always keep my hands firmly in my lap; probably dozing anyway!

Mike: Gosh, that's just awful about the Fair Isle bird observatory. Totally destroyed. :-( Looked like a lovely building too...   Sounds like the loss could also be disruptive to the local economy for a while.

Lynette: Hope the minister had a smile on his face when he said that. Probably woke everyone up though. :-)

AQ: So would someone choose to drive or fly that distance I wonder (you don't have to respond). I'm just musing out loud.....

Wendyb: Have a good time down south.  Not sure about helicopter ride, but that's probably fairly normal transportation up there... ?

We put our clocks forward last night, so all a bit discombobulated today as I tend to use the sun to get a general idea of what I should be doing when....

MIKE: That is so very sad about the Fair Isle Bird Observatory. All that money and good research up in flames. Bad for the birds and bad for the local economy. Such a shame. Thanks for posting.

Annette: I agree with you about the time change. I also use the sun to guide my life. Now I'm all messed up. I also have to remember that the UK is now 4 hours instead of 5 hours ahead of me.