I only give, or send, less than twenty Christmas cards to family, friends and others. I bought them today in the local Cancer Research UK shop.
The back of the card packs inform me that All net profit from the sale of this pack is covenanted to Cancer Research UK, and that the cards are produced in the UK.
I shall dispose of the cards that I receive as I did last year by taking part in the excellent Christmas Card Recycling Scheme.
Thankfully after a pretty wet and windy week today has been sunny, although breezy and cool.
I made the most of it this morning and went to plant the three roses that I’d received earlier in the week. My only company whilst doing that was the robin, and a blue tit helping itself to seeds from one of my bird feeders.
Last week I found a wooden chair that had been dumped. I took it home, checked it over, cleaned it up then measured it to see if it would fit in the shed. I’m happy to say that it does, just, and is a lot better than a plastic one!
I noticed that the grass I sowed around the pond is starting to grow. Something obviously uses it as I keep finding a couple of the stones either moved or out on the ground.
That’s about it for the next few months except to walk round the plot a couple of times a week to check that all is okay, top up the bird feeders and keep the pond ice free.
Now where are those seed catalogues!
I didn’t do my usual Thursday entry yesterday as there are no notable wildlife programmes on terrestrial TV next week.
Have a good weekend!
for me to see any noteworthy military visitors landing at RAF Northolt nowadays.
However last week I was at home on Thursday and Friday afternoons and saw aircraft that were of interest both days.
On Thursday I saw, and heard, a very distinctive Piaggio P180 Avanti which proved to be an Italian Air Force one, which have been rather scarce visitors compared to previous years. This is one of my favourite modern aircraft, which is totally unlike any other flying machine both for its looks and engine sound.
Friday I heard the far less familiar sound of what turned out to be a Polish Air Force Antonov An-26. This may prove to be the last one to visit here as the handful that are still in operational use are due to be retired by the end of the year. They have been replaced by a dozen CASA C-295M which have made occasional visits in recent years.
A few weeks ago I finally got a good view of this very smart looking Czech Air Force Airbus A319CJ which has made a few visits during the year. This is a rare type for here with only one other, an Italian Air Force machine, having visited a good few years ago.
The next couple of months tend to see fewer visitors, not helped by the airport closing over Christmas/New Year and often adverse weather, so seeing these cheered me up somewhat 
, especially in view of what happened on Plot 124 the previous week.
Shortly after posting my entry It wasn’t the children ! yesterday I received an email from the school’s head teacher.
He says something rather different to what his colleague told me on Tuesday, and what two plot holders saw happen on the day!
I’m not going to detail what he said but call me cynical as I’m guessing that he doesn’t want to involve Barclays and possibly jeopardise any support that it gives the school.
Anyway he’s made a generous gesture and offered me £50 worth of garden centre tokens.
I’ve accepted, and said that on receipt of them I’ll consider the matter closed.
I’d like to thank everyone who commented on my Not a good day ! entries here and there.
I’ve done a follow-on entry It wasn’t the children ! over on my MrFlighty blog.
Have a good weekend !
I always treat myself to a non-fiction hardback book for Christmas.
This year it was a really easy choice to make as all the reviews for 
have been first-rate.
The excellent Aeroplane Monthly magazine made it Book of the Month in the December issue, rating it five roundels which equals absolutely outstanding.
Real role models – the women pilots of WWII is a very good Philobiblon review.
Although it is an aviation book it is more about the women themselves and, as such, I’m sure will appeal to a much wider readership than just aviation buffs.
I look forward to settling down over the holiday period to read this book, with the help of a cup of tea and some biscuits of course!
As it was a nice morning I went for a walk round the allotments, then over to the Horticultural Society’s hut for a chat.
I approached my plot only to be dismayed at seeing that someone had been walking over part of it and much of the top eastern side has been badly trampled. It’s perhaps not quite as bad as it sounds but following a few days of wet weather the ground was soft so it does look a bit of a mess.
Talking to a couple of other plot holders I’m told that on Thursday a notable number of adults and young children were present on a nearby plot for much of the day. They were from a nearby special needs school. It appeared that the children were not being properly supervised and were seen on my plot and adjacent ones.
To find any kind of damage is bad enough but at least any done by animals, or even vandals, is understandable. This, though, is totally unacceptable.
I’ve sent an email complaint to the council person responsible for allotments, with copies to several others including the chief executive.
I spoke about this with the Horticultural Society’s Secretary and he said that he would also send an email expressing the concern of both myself and other members/plot holders.
I didn’t have the heart to go back after lunch to work on the plot so I’m sitting here fuming at what is totally irresponsible behaviour. My anger is more towards the adults apparent lack of supervision than the children’s actions.
My concern now is that nothing like this happens again, especially next year when if it does then the damage is likely to more considerable, possibly expensive and far more upsetting.
Thanks to this entry in Usksider’s Photo Blog I was reminded that National Tree Week started last Wednesday and continues through to Monday 3 December, which makes it a long week!
Google this and you will see that there are surprisingly few relevant references to this event. Of these this one looks to be one of the more informative.
All nature lovers have an affinity with trees as they are good to look at, provide food and homes for much of our wildlife and are a good, and popular, subject for photographers and poets.
This poem is appropriate for the time of year, as is the image.
A Whisper of Leaves by Margaret Ingall
The sound of the Autumn is soft as a sigh,
A whisper of leaves as a breeze passes by,
In colours bravura, both brilliant and bold,
She’s clad in red-russet, in pumpkin and gold.
Her perfume’s distinctive, of bonfire and smoke,
sharp as black leaf mould, and mellow as oak.
Her touch is of tree-bark, enduring and rough,
crisp as a corn stalk and conker-shell tough.
Her bounty is rich as the gown that she wears,
a tumble of berries, ripe apples and pears,
She pauses too briefly, then turning her face
abandons the world to the Winter’s embrace.
with my little eye a new three part Cold War spy thriller The Company which starts on BBC2 Saturday at 9.40 pm.
It’s based on Robert Littell’s excellent best selling novel of the same name which charts CIA activity through the wilderness of mirrors.
I’ve always enjoyed books, films and TV on this subject so it will make a welcome change for me to settle down and watch this over the next few weekends.
To everyone who’s celebrating it today Happy Thanksgiving!
The Age I Wish To Go Back To is a meme that Nikki tagged me to do recently. As I said in my comment I always drag my feet when doing these as I don’t like doing them very much.
I’m going to cheat slightly by not following the meme’s instructions and I’m also not going to tag anyone.
Having thought about my past, with it’s many highs and lows, I think that like Nikki I am as content now as I have ever been. That is due to two things.
One, not surprisingly is my allotment plot which has become such an significant part of my life over the past few months as is evident by my previous entry.
The other is blogging which is as important to me now as it ever was, even after nearly three years. I have no real close contact with family, friends or work colleagues. I don’t really mind as I’ve never been much of a socialiser, but that’s not to say that I prefer being a loner as I don’t. Blogging has given me good friends like Nikki, Daffy and a few others who now all mean a great deal to me.
Nikki said that she’d love to hear about my growing up years. She’ll obviously be disappointed that I haven’t obliged her this time. Having only ever done very few really personal entries and just the occasional recollection in comments it must be slightly infuriating not to know more about me.
All I will say is that if I ever run out of other things to blog about then just maybe you’ll get to read something about my past.
Mind you I’m not making any promises!
Flighty's plot 