Wow - what a couple of weeks!

Since last time lots of stuff has happened - just a few mentions here.

We have robins in the garden - there are two, and I have heard that they are very territorial, so perhaps (hopefully) they are a mating pair.This may seem  trivial, but it is a very pleasing event - lat year we had greenfinches in the autumn, and we have seen a few this spring, but it is a first for robins.

Bro2 had a 25th wedding anniversary. Party in a good venue, although a little far from home. Bro1 helpfully gave us a lift, other wise we might have had trouble finding the place. Journeyplanner identified appropriate train, but we would have had to get a bus from the station. Bus route instructions were very odd - "catch the 101 going East" - 15 minute journey - not too bad. Then get off and "catch the 101 going West" for a further 5 minute journey. Odd, this. Why not just get off the first 101 five minutes earlier?  Suffice to say the party was in the Maidstone area (I have blogged about travel in Maidstone before). CuzJ was in such a hurry to get into the venue that she leapt out of her taxi and watched it speed off with the anniversary presents still in the boot. Party was a good opportunity to meet and greet family members I haven't seen for a long time. 

On a world scale, there was an eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland which shut down airspace over Europe for days. The sky became very clear (although apparently there was an invisible ash cloud) and we could hear the birds tweeting. Planes are flying again, but there is still a huge backlog of travellers waiting to get home, including two of my immediate work colleagues. There is a chance that this little volcano might trigger its more pronounceable neighbour Katje, which could be way more destructive and disruptive. Watch this space.