Tuesday 31 May 2016

At Long Last

BT has been this afternoon and we are back to normal - the very nice young man who came to finish off the repairs put us a new connection box in, smartened up a lot of useless wires and had us up and running in about two hours.   What a long job it has been.   Three weeks - two with only intermittent connection and then the last week with no connection.

To those of you who said they would have complained, gone mad, died of frustration and the like - I can only say that I learned long ago that to be like that just makes the situation worse.   I have niggled a bit about it, but knew it would get done finally.

So, to today.

Finally Spring is beginning to arrive up here in the Yorkshire Dales.   Yes, I know it is only a few weeks to the beginning of Summer (or tomorrow if you take notice of modern thinking), but things always take their time up here, particularly when it has been so very cold, with only the odd warm day thrown in here and there (last Saturday for example).

The dandelions have finished and the buttercups are beginning to carpet the fields, the roadside verges are alive with cow parsley, pink campion and stitchwort.   All the hawthorn trees are thick with May blossom and the crab apple trees with apple blossom.

And the birds are now frantically rushing back and forth feeding their young.   Today a family of young house sparrows, who were reared in one of our bird boxes, are lined up in a row on a low branch of the tree outside the kitchen window so that mum and dad can easily feed them from the fat balls hanging from the bird table.

Blackbirds and blue tits are in and out of their nests in the front garden, obviously feeding young.  House martins are smartening up their nests under the eaves of our farmhouse.

In the field, where the farmer has a stick bonfire of all the wood cleared up after gales over winter,
he dare not light the bonfire because sparrows seem to have built in there.   So he has to wait until they are fledged.   Then there will be a short window before hedgehogs begin to think of going into it for hibernation!

It is so good to be back to normal - and to be in contact with you all.   Hopefully there will be no more hiccups!

17 comments:

Terry and Linda said...

YAY! You are back! I'm reading a book about your wonderful county. Margaret, the niece of Henry VIII. I always visualize the countryside looking like where you live.

Linda

Yorkshire Pudding said...

HIP HIP HOORAY!
BT CAME ALONG TODAY!
NOW MRS WEAVER'S
FEELING GAY!
(To be discussed at the next poetry meeting)

Derek Faulkner said...

Lucky you with the weather, we in Kent have dived back into winter. Last night and all today we have had very cold Northerly gales that are smashing the plants down. Coupled with that we have had torrential rain this morning and now have drizzle and it's getting dark. I also have the central heating on for a while.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Not the kind of poetry we discuss at our meetings YP but I appreciate the sentiments!!Commiserations regarding the weather Derek - but glad it is not like that up here - although it is cold.
Linda - we are the largest county in the UK - and in my opinion the most beautiful.

A Heron's View said...

Am very pleased for you that the internet is back to normal.I do know how bereft I have felt at times when there is a break down and as you say we just have to grin and bear it eh.
I have been told that in about six weeks we shall be hooked up to fibre with a one terabyte download - well we shall see as I live in hopes....

George said...

Glad you're up and running again. I admire your attitude, especially the patience, through this ordeal.

Heather said...

Lovely to have you back - you must be so pleased too. I have a beautiful mental picture of that family of sparrows lined up on a branch and being fed. It is a lovely time of year with so much bursting forth. One of our bird boxes is housing bumble bees instead of the more usual bluetits this year.

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

Good to see you are up and running again Weave.
The hawthorn blossom is late this year, but is spectacular.

Fairtrader said...

Reading this post is like reading the wind in the willows!!! But it really IS fairytalelike, this time of year. Right now we are running short of water. Our youngest got back from a classtrip up to Gothenburg where they enjoyed Liseberg with all those frightful terrormachines and some 29,7 degrees celcius......in Gothenburg you can go by blue trams and the ocean is always close by. They got back very late this second day of the trip, due to, yes of course, trouble with the train, delays.
So while I'm waiting for her to get ready for bed, I read that lovely post with all these birds and flowers and the Farmer so generously giving up in front of those small families. I remember reading Watership Down,written by Richard Adams from Berkshire, have you?? It's countrylife from quite a different angle.

Frances said...

it's great to hear that your connection is now fully restored.

Thank you so much for this post's descriptions of how spring is arriving in Yorkshire. I could see those flowers and birds. xo

Mac n' Janet said...

Sounds so idyllic up there in Yorkshire an area we've spend too little time. Maybe some day. Glad you're back up. I admire your attitude, but losing my internet drives me crazy. I fret and get antsy.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, are you feeling "gay", as per the poem.

Got up at 5.30 here in Kent and instead of bright skies, sun rise and bird song, was met by half darkness, gloom and dampness and the need for lights on in the house.

Librarian said...

You are so right, it's no use fretting over stuff like this. It is, after all, very much a First World problem, and as long as you and your husband have each other, are both reasonably healthy and have everything you need in terms of house, food, clothes etc., something like your internet connection not working is surely something that can be handled without it "getting to you" too much.
It just makes one wonder why the nice young man could not have done his two-hour-job at your place a lot earlier.

We seem to have an out-of-proportion number of rooks/crows here right now. I don't think I've ever heard and seen as many as this in the trees and on the roof tops of my neighbourhood. Usually there is a colony of them out on the fields, they live on and around the water reservoir (a high brick tower), but this year, they - or a new group - seem to have decided they want to be closer to town. I like them as I like all birds, but I must admit their long "conversations" can be a bit annoying.

Librarian said...

PS: I, too, am of the opinion that Yorkshire is the most beautiful county!

thelma said...

Welcome back, glad to see you back home on the internet. It is cold, grey and windy this side of Yorkshire.

Elizabeth said...

This is all such good news!
And all good reporting on the natural world front.
How nature does persist in spite of human frailties!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone. June 1st but not at all June-ish here - low temperature, North wind and drizzle.