Month’s deluge.

6°C, and heavy rain to come.
End of term nears. As usual, we’re all exhausted at work. Mostly Year 11 kids who’ve had weeks of exams. The rest of us are battling with colds, on and off. Perhaps viruses are thriving in this yet weather.

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Met office app.

Like a string of massive beads, the storms keep coming. One after another, carried by the dominant south westerly winds that have blown hard for over a month.

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In the south, you can see fronts running nearly parallel to the wind direction. Those rain bearing fronts spill their load for long periods, days at a time sometimes.
Daytime temperatures have been good, up to 12°C. Nevertheless, lodger A is running her electric radiator again. She’ll have to chip in a supplement for the bill.
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Notice the ancient temperature is 15 in my utility room. I don’t understand the need for additional heating in mild weather.

True nighttime.

11°C, SW wind, brisk, rain.
We sampled true darkness last night.
BBC
A long power cut just before bed-time. All power was lost, including phone signals. Only the sound of house alarms filled the darkness. To the north was an orange glow with regular flickering red under the clouds.
My clever comment? “It’s the mother ship”
Most people have a light on their mobile, I used mine to find the camping lights.
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Head-torch and lamp ready. Be prepared.

It was bed time anyway, but I thought about how cities would be without so much artificial light; we would cope.

Bodyheat.

8°C, clear, calm before the gales.
Do women generate their own body-heat? It’s a problem that caused conflict with my ex many years ago. She wanted the house hot, I didn’t want to open the windows with the heating switched on. Sometimes, I had no choice. A little voice inside tells me it’s wrong to wear shorts in the house when the heating is on. That tells me the heating is set too high.
This house has gas central heating, as most modern houses do. It’s insulation is not, however; the best.
To set the scene now, I have two lodgers: both young, one male; the other, female. Both have said they are not cold with the house temperature as it is.
However, this troubles of a little:

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This picture is the smart meter at 7am this morning. Those pulses of electricity ran all night. It’s probably an electric heater. So far this month, the electricity consumption is double that of last year.

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The solution is to ask for a supplement for the heating bill (as agreed in the contract). It seems a shame to ask both of them because the guy is quite frugal with power consumption.

Let’s see whether it’s the same tomorrow morning. It’s quite easy to forget to turn a heater off, especially those that do not have a built-in timer.

Most people get…

10°C, bright with light NE breeze.
…a spider walk on their face in the night. Well, some do. No, not me, I get an Oak Bush Cricket.

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Here she is, still in my bedroom looking healthy enough. I put her outside so she can get on with  hunting nocturnal insects, which is her normal occupation.

later; I only noticed later, on looking at the photos that she only has five legs.
Maybe there is a leg in my room somewhere.

2nd New lodger.

I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 29.1mi, time: 01:56:19, pace: 4:00min/mi, speed: 15.03mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1193551675
Extended tonight’s ride since Parents’ Evening prevented me cycling yesterday. The route was the same as Tuesday’s. This time was a little later, taking me into Bat Time.
Got myself another lodger, that makes two. A young bloke who seems like a true gentleman. After I met him on Monday and showed him the room, I was hopeful that he would accept. He has.

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Fruit of my labours. Scrumped from the same tree I pass every evening on the route home.

Charmed visitor.

Foggy morning, and warm sun later.
This gave me a start this morning.

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It was there, on my sleeve as I started to pull my jersey on. I was immediately enchanted. What a wonderful thing to see, it made my day. He’s outside now, birds and bats permitting.
Jess, a friend tells me it’s a Scoliopteryx libatrix (The Herald). They can live in ivy (which does indeed grow by my bedroom window). Possibly, it was looking for somewhere to hibernate, though it seems a bit early for that.

Supermoon lunar eclipse.

7°C, clear and still.
Alarm set for 02.50am. Perfect conditions.

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Total lunar eclipse

I leant out the window and saw this. It only took half an hour to get the camera and tripod. My lens is limited to 200mm, so here’s the best I could do.
The supermoon wasn’t really apparent. High in the sky with no nearby reference, the size looked normal to me.

Tight nest.

16°C, very windy. Dry after morning rain.

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Today, the foliage spiders are nesting in two tight bunches. In close-up there are fine threads of silk holding the soft feathery tips of the fennel they have as a nursery.
I am fascinated by this. It looks like a good survival method. Good thinking mum! I expect that small birds would be a threat to these little babies. But I can’t see how a bird could stand on such a soft plant to pick off this protein rich meal.
I hope they do well, the adults are certainly attractive looking creatures.

200th mile.

11°C, light wind but dull grey.
I rode Cyclocross Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 14.59mi, time: 01:22:24, pace: 5:39min/mi, speed: 10.62mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/996576491
A
ctually, it’s my 195th mile of the week, but so what?
I have that empty feeling that comes after a week’s high milage. My tanks are empty. The ride this morning was nice enough, start at 6.50 and get home just after 8am. Surfaces are quite firm now as we get towards the end of May.
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My Ceanothus in full bloom. I worry that its weight may topple the non-too strong trunk. If so, it would fall into the pond. It needs a stake.

Brown-field site.

12°C, dry with white cloud and weak easterly.
I love this time of year. My fascination for the inner city wasteland is greatest now until June.

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Here is the first shoots of artimesia absinthium, (or is it vulgaris). This plant still holds its spell, not just because Chernobyl day is soon. The photo was taken in Walsall on the site of a demolished factory near work. They like sandy, slightly acidic soil and are most easily found on brown-field sites.
If only they would grow in my garden. The soil is too rich after all my efforts to feed it with compost.
The continuing recession should give these plants a chance to flower and set seed. That patch of land is for sale but there are no indications of a buyer yet. I expect it will be bought by a developer who builds tiny flats as “affordable homes”.
For me, there is always a little disappointment when these plots are dug up.