The smell of the outdoors...

Spent a couple of mornings this week out on walks with students.

 

One day was at the seaside.

 

The tiny harbour at Whitstable...

 

 

and the beach at my home town...

 

 

Yes, a shingle beach - who ever thought that was a good idea?

 

 

Then we went inland, to be greeted by this lot...

 

and these...

 

 

who left a present for me to slip over into...

 

But did I mind?  Not on a day like this!

Proud Parent Time!

OK here I go again...

My daughter just had her first proper interview for her first proper job.

She had already passed the filter day, and this was it.

The job involves a lot of maths and statistics, so she revised everything, practiced answering questions to her video camera and just generally prepared for it.

She was really pleased with the interview, then it was test time.  There were a number of people there, but all of the others gradually left during the test.  She was the only one there at the end of the time allowed, which we took as a good sign.

Then she rushed home to await news.

They rang.

And offered her the job!

We are so pleased for her.  Her first real interview for a real job and she nailed it!

And the real bonus?  She will be working just around the corner from me!

Ooh yeah.  Life is good.

An evening of creativity

Just had a wonderfully creative evening, sitting at the kitchen table with Mrs RC.  We were both working on our stories, occasionally fishing for suitable words. 

I can see this becoming a regular thing this summer.  Summer?  Damn, I am really getting absorbed by my story, thinking it is now summer and not on the edge of a horrible winter!

This is where my character is right now...

Alone, armed with a poleaxe, wearing a dented WW2 German helmet and with 2 fingers missing due to being shot at by someone who thought he was a zombie.

OK, time to take the dogs for their evening stroll.

More soon!

It rained and it rained...

Starting to feel like Winnie the Pooh over here.  Every day seems to feature at least a few hours of heavy rain - it takes great skill to time expeditions so they fall inbetween the down pours.

 

Last night's dog walk...

 

 

The ground was like a swamp, but we missed the rain. much to Frou Frou's delight.

 

 

This morning's ride to work...

 

 

I slowly woke up to the sound of torrential rain outside, but as I put my bike outside the clouds blew over, revealing blue skies.  I took this photo at about the half way mark as the next bank of clouds closed in on me, but somehow they missed me!

 

As a friend of mine said on Facebook - I am a "lucky boy!"

 

 

Oh, another piece of news - Mrs RC has started writing a zombie novel.  Hers is very different to mine, but I think it will be extremely good.  Knowing how fast she works once she sets her mind to something, you can expect to see hers published before mine!

 

Have a great week!

Walks in the countryside

And finally...

the weather has returned to what it should be at this time of year.

Chilly, windy, raining.

Just in time for the week when we have two more walks in the countryside  [sigh].  We had splendid weather for the last one, but I don't think that these are going to be quite as nice.  Ah well, it IS November, what do we really expect?

The birds have been feasting especially hard on our bird tables too.  We don't get much variety of birds - starlings (which I love), sparrows, doves and wood pigeons are the main regulars, but in the last few weeks a robin has moved in too.

 

I am really pleased with this, considering I took it through the kitchen window - and he was gone half a second later.

 

But I can't help loving starlings...

 

There is something very sinister about them - they are certainly aggressive little buggers!  I fell in love with starlings when I was about 17.  I had my first proper job - at the Uni I now work at to be precise - and during my lunch break I would sit in the Cathedral grounds, eat my sandwiches and feed the birds.  Pigeons were there in vast numbers, but it was the starlings that caught my attention, darting in and out of the mass of pigeons to grab lunch before the bigger birds ate it all.

 

Sparrows do a similar thing to the starlings...

 

although we make sure the tables are well stocked (assorted seed, fat balls and meal worms) so there is not really any need for them to panic.

 

Well, it is games evening tonight, so I had better get moving! 

 

More soon!

Sonic 2

I forced Sonic 2 to pose for a photo when we were cleaning his house out the other day.

 

 

As you can see, he was thrilled and totally worked it.

 

Other than this intrusion, he seems happy enough - eating, sleeping and pooping.  Mrs RC says she can hear him moving about at night.  I can't, but I tend to be out cold for most of the night so that doesn't mean much.

 

OK, time to start the late shift - I help run a computer session on Thursday evenings, which is fun but tends to rule out any writing.  Ah well, I can let my mind run over things to give me more to write at the weekend!

 

Bye!