blame the reds

red squirrel

We’re still having intermittent internet and phone outages, and still waiting for them to change the poste at the end of the garden – which is riddled with woodworm and carpenter bee tunnels – and, hopefully, install a new cable at the same time.

This morning, having glimpsed a red squirrel run across the road ahead of me, I was reminded that last time we had problems, the telecom guy blamed las ardillas. He re-strung several lengths of cable before we realised that in fact someone had cut through the cable while trying to tidy up the excess ivy. (However much I complain about the telephone company, I’ll admit they were more than reasonable when they didn’t charge us for that.)
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marigolds

Simply because the page is looking rather drab and I think these are absolutely glorious:

marigolds

Of course, they aren’t the wild caléndulas that sprout up all over the grass in spring when we aren’t looking; these (growing in a flower border down by the piscina natural) are so startlingly vivid that I am tempted to think about planting some.

autumn

It’s the first day of autumn, and last night there was a harvest moon. That makes me think I should be posting some poetry, but I can’t find anything particularly suitable.

Still, the weather really is quite autumnal today, and if it stays this way, it wouldn’t surprise me if the swallows started gathering early for migration. I’ve had telephone wires and communications on my mind a lot recently, so maybe this will fit the bill:
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out of its element

Earth shifter

I came across this monstrosity sitting in the local river this morning, and the word bulldozer wandered through my mind looking for something to connect with.

It reminded me of a transformer; a shape-shifting earth-shifter. I’m not sure what it was doing there other than looking slightly uncomfortable and as if someone had mistaken the nearly dry river bed for a parking space.
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a knotty solution

knotted cable
fixed (allegedly)

Well, the problem with my phone and internet connection was finally identified: apparently you can’t hope for a telephone to work when the cable is totally unattached.

I have my suspicions about which of the ‘technical’ guys was responsible, as there have been no more high winds since last week when it was fixed temporarily, and I don’t think the eagles that the village is proud to claim have started frequenting the area have been trying to perch in my orchard, so I can’t blame them.

Perhaps the most worrying thing is that the photo shows what is considered to be a solution. Just what do they think is going to happen to those exposed wires the next time we have a storm?