Happily Ever After

Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running

Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.

Dodgy Brakes and Dodgy Focus

by admin - 23:55 on 17 July 2011

I'd expected to share this evening with just the resident moggy, for this afternoon I delivered Matchgirl to the airport at the start of her monthly visit to Shetland, but not long after I'd settled back into the comfort of The Rural Retreat I received a plea to return and pick her up. The plane to Sumburgh had dodgy brakes.

Flybe's offer to find B&Bs for stranded passengers was turned down by the jet-setter, who prefers all overnight accommodation to be vetted thoroughly in advance of any stay. A girl has standards.

That was her excuse. The truth, I think, is that she wanted to be sure she didn't miss Top Gear and The Apprentice.

The good news was that Sralan made the right choice and went into partnership with Tom. Nice guys do sometimes win. The bad news was that, between my leaving at 6.30 and returning at 7.45, Nutella and peanut butter was scoffed from the garden gate. And the light was good.

This was particularly frustrating after a morning spent considering which snaps to enter in the Countryfile calendar competition and finding no martens worth submitting. Everything this year is too noisy or not sharp enough. Either the Pentax autofocus needs adjustment or my camera handling needs improvement. I suspect the latter.

So a small flock of birds might soon fly to Countryfile HQ, unless I get lucky in the next couple weeks. The deadline's not until August 12 but daylight marten visits will finish at the end of the month, if the last two years are anything to go by.

Who knows – the award-winning snap could happen tomorrow morning. After all, I'll be awake early when Matchgirl leaves for the airport at the crack of dawn. It could be fate.

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