Listening to the radio

For the last few weeks, we have been following the fortunes of the England cricket team in 'The Ashes' series against Australia.  We don't subscribe to Sky TV, so up to now N has been using his iPad to check on the score.  The second test match was during that lovely hot spell of weather, and one of our neighbours had his DAB radio on in the garden, so we could hear the commentary from time to time.  We did wonder if we could ask him to 'turn the radio up, please', but we felt it was a bit of a cheek, so we have splashed out and bought ourselves a digital radio of our own.  

We took it into the garden yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the commentary, much better than watching TV.  With radio, the listener has to make a bit of an effort (although we found the commentators so entertaining that not having televised pictures to watch certainly wasn't a hardship).  They are very knowledgeable and always have plenty of little anecdotes to keep us interested, and the banter in-between overs is fun to listen to (and, dare I say, occasionally more interesting than the cricket itself ;)  The third match is being played at Old Trafford in Manchester, which is where we will be heading this weekend to visit N's family, so we've been sorting out things here before we go - washing, plants, cleaning etc.

The sunflowers are making good progress against the fence

After a couple of days of good steady rainfall, which has filled to water butts nicely, yesterday was incredibly hot again, and very humid after being so wet.  It really was quite tiring.  I think we may now be in for 'changeable' weather - otherwise known as sunshine and showers.

There were a huge number of bees in the garden yesterday; I counted 14 at one point, all busy flitting from flower to flower.  It has been interesting that we've not seen any wasps to date - there was an item on the news recently commenting on the same thing.  Perhaps it has something to do with the really cold, wet winter we had.

There is always a bit of dead-heading to do, but it encourages more flowers so it is worth it

This morning, as N and I were sat at the table enjoying a cup of coffee, a sudden flurry outside attracted our attention, and to our amazement, we watched the sparrowhawk fly into some nearby trees with a young blackbird in it's talons.  It perched on a branch and proceded to pull the feathers off of it's prey before flying off again.  It was a bit brutal to watch, but also fascinating.  The sparrowhawk is obviously a regular in this particular territory, as this is second time we have seen it in as many weeks.  The swiftness with which it took its prey was quite impressive, and yet again N and I appreciated how much there is to see if you are patient and simply watch.

We had thought about visiting the New Forest Show this week; it's an event we have both wanted to go to but never managed and we haven't managed it this year, either.  One of the problems of living on an island is the cost involved if we want to get off it, not to mention having to plan trips according to ferry timetables.  Most of the time it doesn't bother us at all - we simply don't think about it.  But then something like a special event crops up, and the planning involved, and the cost, gives us something to think about.  We have acknowledged that we are lucky to live where we do, in an area of such beauty with close proximity to coastline and woodlands, but occasionally we admit it would be nice just to be able to get in the car and drive to our destination without the cost of additional transport to take into consideration.  It curbs spontaineity a little!  However, it has got us thinking and mulling over a few ideas for future travelling ideas ...