Monday, February 10, 2014
I woke up this morning with pleurisy pains, so I turned over and went back to sleep. When I woke up half an hour later I felt better. Cheerfully gathering an armful of washing I took it down and put it in the machine, switched on - and nothing. We've only had it for four years; and, naturally, the warranty has just run out.
So we spent the morning buying a new washing machine. Boring! John Lewis at High Wycombe has been hugely extended, and we got lost. I also bought a new pair of running shoes there, so no excuses now. Less birding :o( and more training! I've got to get lean and mean again before it's too late forever. The young chap who served me was keen to show us the latest technology; I had to run on a treadmill for about 30 seconds while he filmed my feet and ankles. By pausing the film here and there and running red lines down my Achilles tendons he could see that I "pronate" (go over onto the sides of my feet) very little when I run. This was nice to know - and even nicer when I realised I didn't need the expensive structured shoes but could get away with the cheaper ones. Now that did cheer me up!
The flooding towards Marlow and Bisham was unbelievable. How people get back to normality having been flooded out, I don't know. Sheer misery. On the way home we drove through a sudden fierce shower of rain and hail. That'll help.
Yesterday, the floods at Dorney were enormous.
A woman was in the field throwing a ball for her dog (she'd just gone out of shot when I took the pic). The shelduck looked slightly uneasy, but they stood their ground.
As I continued downstream of the weir, a tenth shelduck flew across the river from Wood Lane towards the EW flood. There were chiffchaffs in the flooded willows on the sewage farm near the weir along with loads of winter thrushes; and a buzzard cruised over low.
// posted by Christine @ 10:05 AM 
