As has often been the case, I begin today’s post last night. After I had written and published the blog, Sarah spotted bats flying around our back garden. I first noticed the bats a couple of years ago, again around this time of year, swooping through the back garden around dusk. It was Sarah’s turn to spot them this year, at least two bats flying around each other.
This is the best shot of the bats I could manage. As you might imagine bats are fast little blighters, and I had to leave the camera running for quite some time to get this three second shot. If they are back again tonight, I will be sure to try and grab another view.
This morning, I found myself only just making it to the computer on time, and I cannot blame three bats for that. The day started as usual with emails, followed by the weekly meeting, essentially a longer huddle, which thankfully this week was on the shorter side. The only slight drama came when I looked out of the window to watch the dog (who was in the back garden at the time) leaping the fence and running off down the street chasing bees. I had to run after him, leaving an empty space on the video call where I had been. Fortunately I got the dog back, and my colleagues could see the funny side.
I sat in the garden today for lunch, alone for ten minutes and then joined by Sarah when she was free. While it was cloudier than yesterday, it was still hot, so the dog quickly gave up chasing the ball in place of lying in the shade.
After we had sufficiently sunned ourselves, I had a phone call with one of our local residential homes to review a four of the patients who live there. This was followed by a quick from my phone call to a Microsoft Team meeting (my first) to join our monthly academic meeting, where one of the trainees presented a patient.
At the risk of boring you all with the details (ha!) I really did not like Teams. The audiovisual quality was not as good as Zoom, and the layout seemed overly complex. I am sure with a little practice one could get used to it, but I think I will stick with Zoom where I can.
Once the meeting was over, it was my turn to take the dog for a walk, a little cooler today than yesterday, before I helped Sarah trial the webinar software her company has chosen to use, by pretending to be a presenter and an attendee. The system seems fairly straightforward, and I’m sure she’ll create great webinars when she does them for real.
It was then time for the weekly FaceTime with my family. Given we will be moving in with my parents temporarily soon, there will only be a couple more of the weekly calls to be held. Once again people are doing well, my brother and his boyfriend had even ventured into the local park and called from there.
Dinner was a chicken and olive stew cooked by Sarah. It was very nice, even if she did use 134 pots and pans for me to wash up afterwards.
The plan for this evening is to read a bit more of Cloud Atlas. I am half way through the third chapter (or section maybe?) and it is getting good. I still have no idea how it will end, but some of the connections between the different time periods have begun to be weaved. Tomorrow is of course Friday (woohoo) but I am working this weekend (boo), but Monday is a bank holiday (woohoo) so I guess everything balances out in the end…
Self-Indulgent Twaddle 