February 7th, 2022

Mike is back to continue with the wood clearance, although it is mainly brambles that are left, it gets wider here, and right at the top you reach the old stone wall which is supposed to be the boundary with our nearest neighbour. This wall is I think intact, but it is covered over with earth pushed from the top bank, old tyres, the remains of a shed and other debris that needs clearing. 

The top area is much wetter. There looks to be a large area of snowdrops which will not have been seen for a couple of decades, covered over by brambles, another couple of weeks and the snowdrops will be out. There is one tree which lies across the stream with a 4- or 5-foot drop to the stream below, this will need to be winched out once the ground has become harder, it will be much nicer without it.

By the end of the week, Mike has added a gate to give us access to the bottom of the valley and there is new stock proof fencing to delineate our boundary and to hold back any stray sheep. We have discussed where we would potentially put in some grass paths using a mini digger, some steps down to the stream in the middle, and at the bottom we’ll look to pull all the silt back onto the banks and create a couple of ponds. It will be interesting to see what happens now that light can access the ground, no doubt we will need to be out with some chemicals to kill-off the stinging nettles, but I’m hoping that some wildflowers will appear from dormant seeds. Mike is booked to return for a couple of weeks at the end of May.

I’ve had Reggie and Badger, Olivia’s black Cockapoo and Reggie’s nephew, staying this week with me. The Fitbit I got for my birthday shows nearly double the number of steps than last week, not quite the 10,000 steps each day. The one hour less sleep per night is not unexpected. Reggie and Badger have been down to see Mike and they were fine until Reggie decided to explore the valley. It might have looked funny to see me chasing after them trying not to slip over on the muddy inclines. When I got back into view, Badger with a little hesitation came back after my call, and Reggie then followed, both safely back on lead, but I have learnt my lesson.

The shooting season is now over and the gate going up to Long Walk has been opened. We have done the walk up to the arch a couple of times before it gets dark, but I am conscious there are still pheasants around and Reggie goes back on lead before we get anywhere near the woods at the top. Reggie is still alert to their cries as they return to their roosting spots, I think off-lead if one came into view then he would be off. It normally takes a month or 6 weeks for the game keepers to round up the last remaining pheasants, although some stay wild for the summer. 

This week for the first time this year I have noticed distinct birdsong, I think Blackbirds, but I am not sure. That’s another thing I’ve wanted to do, learn to distinguish birds and bird song. There is a good series on BBC Sounds regarding bird song, we’ve listened to a few, and I think this year I’ll learn just a couple and then listen out for them until I can always distinguish the sound, then move on to the next couple of birds. 

Around the garden there are signs of bulbs, and some snowdrops are out but it might be another couple of weeks before they are at their peak. The heads on daffodils are beginning to form but the only ones that are open are the ones Victoria bought from the supermarket. Several of the pots with bulbs in them are starting to show sign of growth and Victoria has moved them out from under the veranda.

I had a lot of doubts over my podcast at the beginning of the week, like why am I thinking of doing a podcast, what’s in it for me? The more I thought about it the more I thought that just listening to a podcast on Maximo would be dull, besides if you are going to listen to someone don’t you need to be invested in the person rather than just the information that the podcast will bring. By the end of the week, I had convinced myself that I should split the podcast in two, the Maximo piece, what I’ve been working on during the week, and the piece about me, what’s been happening to me this week outside of work, I call it – the indulgent me, although I am not sure that will work as a title. However, it is the bit talking about my non-work life which I would enjoy more, the Maximo piece still feels very much like work, and I am aiming to deliver the whole podcast outside of work hours. I now have a clear path ahead and only a few doubts, that are not nagging half as much as they were at the beginning of the week.

I have been busy on the podcasting project and I am documenting a weekly post called My Podcasting Journey which I will release to the podcasting community on each day of next week. This is certainly helping me to get into the 1-hour rule habit, work on the podcast for 1 hour or the length of a CD but no more.

I started trying daily Zoom calls with Tadas this week with limited success. Tadas is a Latvian intern who is on an engineering degree in The Netherlands. Danny, my company’s main shareholder, met him in Beers and Barrels round the corner from our office, I haven’t seen the office for nearly two years now. Danny has asked me to introduce him to Maximo which we will do for an hour each day, my thought is that I could record what I am saying via a Zoom call and then analyse my speaking voice from the download that Zoom provides. Tadas couldn’t hear my voice, so we resorted to our default method of using Slack, perhaps we’ll work it out next week.

On Saturday we all went to Crow Point, it was deserted, but then it was cold and windy. Crow Point is at the end of the second largest sand dune system in the British Isles called the Braunton Burrows, a UNESCO designated biosphere reserve, and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Saunton Golf Club where I play golf is on the leeward side at the top of the burrows on the opposite side of the dunes from Saunton beach, one of the surfing beaches of North Devon.

Reggie and Badger loved the walk, Reggie running off into the distance to come haring back again, Badger staying much closer. We walked around to the old pier used for training the troops prior to D-Day, now dismantled by the waves and wind, and then wound our way up over the windward side of the leading dune into the calm behind. We found the boardwalk which is noticeably being reclaimed even in the one year since I was last here, and made our way back to the car park, still deserted. Coffee and some of the remaining Christmas cake were very welcome on our return. 

We’re still definitely in winter, but the hours of light are getting wider, and it does feel as if we are moving out of the darkness, and spring will soon be just around the corner.