I spent yesterday sorting out insurances, finances and all the other stuff which those of my generation still refer to as paperwork but which involves relatively little paperwork these days. This day and age it means spending the day on the computer setting up, altering, and generally juggling with websites and then ringing help lines to confirm things (usually your identity). I've also discovered that having set up various accounts for various things one then has to print off forms, complete them and then post them off "so that we have a real signature". Eh? I thought the purpose of having to do it all on line was.....oh, never mind. So I have a little pile of letters for the post this morning to show for a whole days spent on the computer and phone. C'est la vie. Ce qui est, je crois, meilleure que l'alternative.
However there was a real highlight to the day.
Earlier in the month I had a young male Sparrowhawk in the garden - The Hunter Hunted. So when I looked up from making a cup of coffee yesterday afternoon I was delighted to see a pair of raptors flying across the crofts between me and the sea. The camera was two feet from my hand and within seconds was switched on and pointed through the kitchen window. I managed three shots before they had flown out of range. One of them was usable for identification:
I was puzzled, however, because my initial reaction was they were Kestrels but I couldn't recall seeing a Kestrel here before. So I consulted an expert, Steve Duffield of Western Isles Wildlife whom I'd previously in touch with about.........WHAT!! (exclamation marks not ?s on purpose). I'd been in touch with him about a Kestrel which I'd positively identified and blogged about in July in a post pithily entitled Kestrel on Lewis.
I definitely need a rest. Either that or.....no, I don't want to think about it.
I walked to the post office box and posted a response to a jury summons today. Form to be filled by hand, using pen, and then delivered by mail.
ReplyDeleteSo alien these days.
I kind of liked it though :-)
There is something satisfying about pens and paper and snail mail I agree Jaz. They also take a lot less time but, of course, cost the bank more because they have to employ people to do the work.
DeleteWait till your SORN is not acknowledged. That causes no end of expense.
ReplyDeleteCheaper to just keep tax and insurance running.
PS....There is nothing wrong with your hats.
People keep asking why I don't SORN the car for 6 months of the year. Answer: I just couldn't be a***d with the hassle. Apart from that, of course, it needs to come out of the garage to get regular exercise - just like we do.
DeleteThank you for your re-assurance about the hats. I was getting a complex.
'Don't want to think about it' or are unable to think. That's often my excuse - whoever you are,
ReplyDeleteNow, Monsieur du Marche, what was I going to write?
DeleteMaybe I should always have my camera dangling from my wrist, because just yesterday, I regretted being as neat and tidy as I usually am; the camera was where it always is when not in use, in its little transport bag, in the top drawer of my bedside table. From my kitchen window, I observed two large jays hopping about on the grass of next door's garden, and I so would have liked to take pictures of them, but I knew that, by the time I'd gone to the bedroom, opened the drawer, got the camera out of its bag and gone back to the kitchen, they would have been gone. So, no pictures of beautiful jays today.
ReplyDeleteThat kestrel is beautiful - and you were having great weather, too, it seems!
I am by nature a lover of tidiness, Meike, but my lifestyle usually means that I'm doing so many things at once (OK, There's a touch of ARADD as well) that I don't achieve it. I don't count keeping my laptop and camera with me as being untidy though. Actually looking around my kitchen Meike there is no way on the face of the earth you could live in it because there is just too much 'stuff'.
Deleteno, don't go there! Indiana had its Indian Summer two days, but Friday brought rainstorms.
ReplyDeleteI'd be ecstatic if you can recover my posts from Scrappy Grams! Then please share with me how to save posts on my new blog. My email is norma_ruttan@yahoo.com
BTW your brother is my first follower on Nonnie's Observations
A question: how do I get my profile photo to link with my site name? My first blog's start was guided by a friend holding a workshop for us newbies.
~cheers~
So glad that you were able to get all the necessary paperwork out of the way. I do hope you have kept copies as well.
ReplyDeleteI still use a pen and paper when I really want to save something important, no "safe" records on the pc or phone for me.
Interesting shot of the bird in flight...far better than mine (see my today's post for a chuckle on my attempt).
Just a few more sleeps to go....don't forget to spend some quality time with the fish before you go.
I have copies of copies of most things Virginia but I'm now getting to the stage where I'm getting rid of the paperwork and scanning documents onto the computer. Mind you as I keep 4 concurrent backups of my computer data (including two kept off site) they are probably a lot safer than the paper copies.
DeleteThe number of photos of birds in flight like yours that I have taken is immense. It's a difficult subject and luck plays a large part unless you are going to spend lots and lots of time. For most of us they are opportunistic and success is a lottery.
As for the fish they are hiding from the weather down in the depths at the moment.
Hopefully you will have a long rest on the plane this trip!
ReplyDeleteThat would be bliss Pauline. I don't want another trip like the last one!
DeleteWell, there seems to be a reason after all why it's still called paper work...! Hope you got everything sorted, and that when you get to NZ you'll be able to relax and just watch the birds in the sky. Oops, I forgot. You'll be busy staring down on the lawns trying to get little balls through little hoops... ;)
ReplyDeleteI probably won't know until I'm down under what my success rate has been. By which time......
DeleteAh, getting geared up to come home, eh :-)
ReplyDeleteRe. forgetfulness, I may have already told you (!) but I am getting worried about me.
This is what happens:
I read a post somewhere, find it very interesting, and think I might write a comment... click on the comments and find... some really interesting comments, including.. yep: one by me! Which I have NO RECOLLECTION writing. Now, try and tell me that's not scary.
I expect one day I'll read these words too. Ha.
Just two more sleeps in Eagleton and one in Glasgow and I'll be on the plane home Katherine.
DeleteWhat yiou have described has happened to me too - too often. But how on earth could I forget seeing and photographing a Kestrel on Lewis!!!!!! I may never believe myself again.