We saw a Green Woodpecker in the front garden yesterday morning. It’s not the first one I have ever seen, but I have never seen such a bold one. Normally they seem to be shy birds. This one was quite happily exploring our front lawn for about 10 minutes or so and was quite oblivious of the occasional passer by. A nice start to the weekend.

On the subject of birds, when we arrived we went to a local garden shop and bought a small plastic container of nuts. I hung it in one of the trees and within 10 minutes some finches had found it. Since then, the word has obviously spread and now it is quite common to see 15 birds squabbling around the nuts. Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Blue and Great Tits are the ones I can identify. Boy, can they scoff. We have been here for 5 weeks or so, and already we are on our third tube of nuts.

I feel a little sorry for our resident Robin. He (or She) can’t take the nuts from the feeder (I am not even sure if Robins eat nuts) and he spends his time sat on a branch just watching the action.

I am thinking about buying a bird table for him and the other non nut eaters. More on that if it happens.

Last week, Darling Wife took some old swede to the park for the gulls that are spending their winter vacation there. There about 50 Black Headed Gulls in residence and they are obviously quite streetwise as they were circling eagerly overhead before Joanna emptied the swede on to the grass. Having dutifully dumped the vegetables Darling Wife was then forced to retreat hastily as the gulls descended as one. They took about a minute to devour the lot.

There was similar carnage down on the river today. We had lunch in Windsor and then went and sat by the river for a few minutes. It was quite pleasant, cold but not excessively so. We tried to feed the Geese and Swans but of course the Gulls gate-crashed the party. They are incredibly agile, and whenever a piece of bread was thrown into the air, a Gull always caught it before it hit the water.

Some of the Geese got bored with seeing their lunch being intercepted and so decided to hop up onto the bank and come and get the food themselves. One particularly large brute began impatiently pecking at me and very nearly got himself booted back into the river for his pains.

As you might expect, Darling Wife thought this was all jolly good fun. It must be noted however that she stayed well away from the action at all times.

I am not sure if any readers are still with me after my long self imposed absence from blogging. I guess not many, but for anyone who is and of course for new readers; here is a quick rundown of the last few months.

We (Darling Wife and myself) relocated back to the UK from Paris in August. I am now working at Heathrow and expect to be here for 3 years or so. We spent 5 weeks in a small apartment on the edge of the airport while we looking for somewhere more permanent.

We had two main criteria for our house. It had to have three bedrooms and I wanted it to be within 30 minutes of the Airport. Despite knowing the airport well, I had no idea of the area around the place. So mainly because it was somewhere I had heard of, I decided to start looking in Windsor. True, I had also heard of Slough but it didn't have quite the same allure (I realise I maybe doing that town a disservice, but there you are).

So Windsor it was. The company provide a relocation agency but we found they were pretty useless. Darling Wife eventually found a house in the local property paper and we agreed to rent it within 5 minutes of seeing it.

It's got 4 bedrooms and a small garden and is pretty much what we looking for. It's a little further out from the town than we wanted, but we can live with that. The drive to and from the office takes 25 minutes in the Skateboard and that is just about perfect.

The only fly in the ointment is that we are under the flight path for Heathow. It's not really a problem at the moment because it's winter and we are keeping the windows closed. If we are still here next summer, then it might be a different story.

So that's it really. Not really sure what the next 3 years will bring, but hopefully you'll be able to read all about it here.

While I was away on my travels in Asia and Europe I kept my car in storage.
It's a little Honda CRX (AKA the Skateboard). It's not the first model which
was a souped up Civic, but the Mk2 which is a 2 seater with a lift-off roof
(I think Targa Top is the correct term). It wasn't regarded as a fast car
when it was new, and now 14 years later it is positively pedestrian. However
it's still a joy to drive. It sits very close to the ground and even doing
30 miles per hour feels a lot faster than in a normal saloon. It handles
like a dream and if pushed it will accelerate quite sharply (but it does
need to be pushed).

There are drawbacks. It's has an appallingly hard ride - hence the name
Skateboard. The slightest bump threatens to knock your teeth out. The
removable roof leaks. It's noisy. Worst of all (or maybe it's the best
thing) if I pull up tight against the kerb, it's so low to the ground that
Darling Wife can't get out and a bout of grumpiness usually ensues.

But on a cold, frosty, sunny morning like this morning, with the roof off
and me wrapped up like an Eskimo it's just utterly wonderful. A quick 25
minute dash through the back lanes to Heathrow is always guaranteed to put
me in a good mood for the day. In a word - Marvelous!

One of the unexpected things that has come into my life since marrying
Darling Wife is my evening stroll. Darling Wife firmly believes in
exercising after Dinner and so, more often or not, I am kicked out of the
house at around 7pm with strict instructions not to return for 30 minutes or
so. In the summer, Darling Wife quite often accompanies me, but since the
clocks have gone back and (more importantly) the temperature has dropped,
her enthusiasm has diminished quite remarkably.

In Paris, this constitutional used to lead me by the Eiffel Tower, or along
the Seine. Even in the depths of winter this was always interesting. There
was always something or someone to watch. Alas, the delights of Dedworth do
not quite come up to the same standard. However, there is a small park to
wander round, and it is a safe enough area so I am not complaining.

What I am complaining about is this.

Last night I passed a house with not one but two illuminated Christmas trees
in the window. What is all this about? It's only just past bonfire night,
and we've got Christmas decorations up in peoples houses. It's bad enough
that the local Tesco has is playing Christmas music and has started
exhorting us to have fun and be jolly, but for the locals to join in early
November seems pretty pathetic to me. What is wrong with these people? Do
they think December 25th will come quicker if they stick a bit of green
plastic and some lights in their window? Are their lives so boring that they
need to focus on the forthcoming celebrations to take their mind off of
things?

As I think I mentioned last year, in France most places (shops, towns,
whatever) don't really embrace the Christmas spirit until a few weeks before
the 25th and that is a practice I fervently miss.

Oh well, whatever! If the good citizens of Dedworth Road are happy who I am
to criticize.

I had fully intended starting blogging again last week but events transpired against me. Now I am in Bristol with my parents and I thought I would take the opportunity to try out my latest toy. It's a PDA / Phone that allows me to send and receive emails. I guess this is pretty old hat these days but I still find it amazing that something the size of a matchbox can surf the net, send emails and do all sorts of other amazing things.

The other thing that is useful is that my blog allows me to post via email So if this works I'll be doing some more remote blogging.