Red Kites over Milton Keynes

As usual I took Alfie out for his routine walk (more like run.) around Eaglestone Park. As we got to the other side I saw some birds flying overhead and at closer inspection I realised that one was a red kite. These magnificent predators have only recently been reintroduced in this area. Carol and I saw some on the way to West Wycombe several years ago and went up the hill where the Dashwood mausoleum is situated and you get an incredible view over the Buckinghamshire countryside. Other birds fled when they saw this red kite, distinctive by it's distinctive silhouette and its forked tail. Then I saw a second bird and it was by now clear that this was a pair of these birds. I'm sure Carol would have been delighted to see these birds.

The gas ran out when I wanted to have a shave. Which meant I had to dash out to the Eaglestone shop to get  top-up. I put enough on both the electric meter as well as the gas meter. The problem is the gas meter is outside in the bin cupboard and you can't see the meter display so as to keep an eye on the balance of the top-up. Hopefully, if the smart meter is installed, this shouldn't happen again as you should be able to keep an eye on the balance on both gas and electricity, but it's still inconvenient that you have to go outside and stand on the step stool in order to read the meter or top it up. The stupid boiler still wouldn't function properly when I thought I'd managed to put the top-up on the meter. A right performance is required to do all this, having to take the step-stool outside and stand on it and then open the bin cupboard and then reach inside to put the card in the meter. You have to remember to stitch off the boiler before doing all this and it can be a real effort if it's dark because you can't see a thing so I usually do this when it's daylight, although I recently bought a little torch so I could see what I'm doing if it's dark. The top-up has a habit of running out during the night, so the torch is a real necessity. I found that the card hadn't registered and I hadn't got it to work properly so I had to go back out and go through the process again, annoyingly. The meter made the sound that signified that the top-up had gone on, so I could go back into the kitchen and turn on the boiler and this time it worked! Amazing.

I know what you're thinking as you read this. 'This post is shorter than usual!' And you'd certainly be right. I know, but there's nothing else to write about, so it is shorter than usual.