I dashed into Stratford this morning to meet up with R for coffee, and take advantage of some sunny, if breezy, weather. There were at least a couple of male Migrant Hawkers competing for possession of each of the larger reed beds at Lucy’s Mill, along with a single female, who sailed gracefully into this bed and landed without either of the bickering males spotting her. Ten minutes later she disappeared while my attention was directed somewhere else, so I missed the chance to see whether she was eventually noticed, seized, and mated, or simply lost patience with this self-absorbed pair and took herself off in search of a more observant male. After I’d photographed the dragons in flight for a while the light became more patchy and problematic, and I decided to call it quits. This was my final shot of the session, taken from the bridge as I set off into town, and despite the static pose and dead flat light, I’ve chosen it because I like all the intersecting lines and angles.
Back at home R and I applied ourselves to hiring a skip, so that we can finish the job we started twelve months ago of clearing the garage of a quarter century’s accumulated rubbish and junk. We were dismayed to find that the local skip hire company we’ve used ever since we’ve been here has been bought out by a bigger company, and that they’ve ditched the small roll-on, roll-off lorries and skips we’ve always had to use because nothing larger can get down the drive into the back yard. After much measuring and multiple phone calls, the company diverted one of their drivers from his pick-up route to come and take a look at the problem, and after establishing that he could reverse his vast lorry through the gate (just), and that the extending hoist wouldn’t bring down the overhead phone wire (probably), he agreed to bring us a three-yard skip tomorrow and set it as far in along the drive as possible. We reckon that we’ll be able to get both cars in behind it, which might just deter some of our cheekier neighbours from popping round to help us fill it.
