Oh look, it's March.....

Oh, hello. I see it has been a full month since I updated this blog. Not sure what to say really, other than I predicted this would probably happen and sure enough it did. I’ve been busy, and so I suspect have all of you. The usual, work and play. The less said about the former the better, all I will say is that Brexit is a big steaming pile of shit and working in a bank (and indeed probably anywhere) makes it particularly shit. Forget the inability of the UK government to organise a piss up in a brewery, my company’s course was set many many months ago. The lack of any type of decision with mere weeks to go just makes it harder, but we have a lot of smart people and we are getting it done, albeit at immense cost, and this ultimately includes my ability and inclination to come home and write fun and uplifting blog posts. Instead I come home and devote what limited brainpower I still possess to simpler tasks. Watering plants, tidying up, other various quotidian to-do list types of things which do not make for interesting blog posts. Back in the old days I would have made something of them irrespective of people’s boredom thresholds. These days I don’t so count yourselves lucky.

I have not been birding in Wanstead since the start of February, my fellow patch-workers must be wondering what has happened to me. I am fine, just not enamoured by the prospect of trudging around Wanstead Flats seeing very little. It will kick off again soon and I am genuinely looking forward to it – my prediction (and upon which a beer rides) is Wheatear on March 14^th. One week to go. Despite not birding I have managed to get a little bit of fresh air, both here and other places. The unseasonal warm spell earlier this month was very much appreciated, and I spent a lot of time mucking about with plants – an early implementation of my normal spring reshuffle when plants that were overwintering in the greenhouse move back outside, which then makes space for plants with less cold tolerance to move out of the house. Of course since then we have gone back to normal weather, but the danger period is over and there is no need to reverse anything I have done to date. I can only imagine you are relieved as I am.

The other reason for little blogging is whilst the first six weeks of the year involved zero travel as work was so busy, once certain deadlines were over I wasted no time in getting the hell out of Dodge. So in the last three weeks I’ve had a fun day in Helsinki, a half term photography expedition with my son to Utah and Arizona, and then most recently a slightly crazy weekend birding and plant-appreciating in Singapore. I truly love plants. All of these will feature in blog posts soon, for which I apologise now as I fully expect all of them to absolutely bomb. I guess many people just don’t relate to travel in the same way as I do. That’s fine, it is what floats my boat that really counts here, and which is what I have said all along. If you can get through it I expect there will be some local birding just around the corner.

This place IS as amazing as it looks