To say that I had a lovely and quiet weekend, I really shouldn’t be quite this tired! Anyone would think I had spent the weekend rushing about and doing things. And I most certainly did not.

I did manage to get to the post office on Saturday morning. And we finally took my library books back – calling at the Wingerworth library which is a large room or small hall in the Wingerworth Parish Council Hall. It was quite cute. I have borrowed more books. I must remember to read them! Then we went to The Nettle for possibly the best bacon and cheeseburger I’ve had in years and years. They make proper chips too. I ate virtually every scrap, and kept chewing long after my tum had pointed out that it was full to bursting because I couldn’t bear to waste so much as a mouthful.

Then we went home. We had been going to go and do the shopping, but really couldn’t be bothered. Instead we went home and sat in the lounge room and played on our laptops and read magazines and I watched telly on my laptop and we had baked beans and eggs on toast for supper and went to bed nice and early.

On Sunday I did the RSPB bird count. Alas, there were no long tailed tits, and only the usual 4 goldfinches (although a flock of about 25 of them were sat in the tree just on the other side of our fence later in the afternoon). Also, the magpies were entirely absent. But there were about 15 starlings and several sparrows. The blue tit popped in. The robin was dancing about on the ground. There were two blackbirds, three collared doves. Two great tits called by (these are not regular visitors) and there were two dunnocks and a wood pigeon. So not a bad count – just nothing really exciting. And five or six minutes after I had stopped counting, Marlo woke up, ambled outside and sat in a pensive mood by the pond for about ten minutes. I am so glad he didn’t do that during my count!

We went to the Three Horseshoes for the Sunday carvery. It was much, much busier than it had been the previous Saturday. There were only four or five tables occupied at half twelve when we got there, but by one there were only a couple of empty tables. And the food was fab. You barely had to chew the beef.

There were lots and lots of sheep ambling about as we drove through the Chatsworth estate. Everyone was being very careful. But it wasn’t as exciting as Roger’s drive out in the Derbyshire countryside on Sunday. He and Kate were driving along when, all of a sudden and entirely unexpectedly, a large red deer stag leapt over an embankment and ploughed straight into the side of the people carrier in front of Roger and Kate’s car, causing very considerable consternation (not least to the stag, I suspect). The stag pulled itself off the dinted car, belted across the road and leapt over the wall and carried on wherever it was going. The cars had all stopped to assess the damage. Which fortunately, I believe, was minimal to the people carrier. Roger had managed to stop before hitting the vehicle in front and had managed not to be run into by the stag. It was all the more surprising because nobody knew there were any deer up in that bit of the countryside. But it is a very good example of why you should leave at least two seconds between you and the vehicle in front!!!

I was deeply, deeply reluctant to wake up yesterday morning. I was deeply, deeply reluctant to get up. I was deeply, deeply reluctant to leave the house and come to work. Why I was so tired is a mystery. And I had quite a pleasant day lined up. I had a “start the week” coffee meeting lined up with Sarah, my temporary line manager. Then I had a 10:00 coffee meeting with Roger. Then he and I went for a wander over to the new Facilities Building to meet a BigWig from Facilities. Then we called into the new Fusion Café and gallery on the way back to see what it was (It’s an organic food café with a gallery of student jewellery and other stuff from a college attached to it that I didn’t know existed – the college or the gallery). Then it was lunch time. Then I had two hours on the Helpdesk, followed by coffee with Peter (my actual line manager, but he’s not line managing Paul and me until he feels very much more up to it!), then I was on the desk again for another hour and then it was time to go home. I scarcely noticed yesterday.

Still tired. I think I need a holiday. A nice long holiday. :-)