Willow Warbler singing in Paxton
Willow Warbler singing in Paxton

Catching up with more work, , attending meetings and listening to summer visitor bird song!

I had a lot to catch up with and, after breakfast and my normal chores, I settled down to paperwork in my office. There was the rest of my financial summaries to complete and then the task of sorting my desk out and trying to prioritise the outstanding work. I had so much to do but at least I thought I was clearing the tasks faster than they are arising. The gardener was back at work this morning tackling the outstanding jobs of mowing the grass and tidying the garden. The rain at the end of last week had stopped him from getting on and the grass had grown enormously over the weekend and was quite out of hand. I opted to carry on work this afternoon rather than go with Diana to Uncle Tom's funeral. I was going to go until I found out that it was being held at the Luton crematorium. I do not like the conveyor-belt atmosphere of crematoriums and find them quite distressing compared with a church service and burial which to my mind is the proper was of conducting a funeral.

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I just had a few moments thinking of him at home which I felt was my way. After tea this evening, I went along to the HDC Planning Committee, sitting as a full committee member for the first time. It was a long and tiring evening with several questionable decisions made but I did my best to limit the damage. The new Chairman, Pre Newbon, is very permissive in planning terms and quite rude to her committee and I clashed with her once or twice over the way she conducted the meeting! Home quite late and sat up even later watching the television before going to bed. The bedroom doors were thrown open to cool the room down and the sound of the competing bird songs opposite at mid-night was quite stunning. These warbler-type birds are summer visitors and sing their hearts out at this time of year as they denote their territories and darkness does not seem to interrupt them in the least.