Lunch and cremated sausages

Hi everyone,

 

Typing this post as I finish out the day at work.  I'm embarrassed to say that it's another one where I have next to nothing to do.

 

Sorry for the lack of a post about yesterday (as opposed to the one I actually did post.  The "Physical Gospel" piece was something that's been in my mind for a while and I was keen to put it forward.

Yesterday was a businer day than today, heavily taken up with digging through financial records for our monthly report, followed by processing a number of incoming file queries.  It was another warm day - about 37°C I believe - but I still made a point of getting out of the office and down to Lake Bartlett to eat my lunch (some lettuce and tomato and a can of tuna).  On the walk there I was struck by the incredible blaze of colour from the flowers at the foot of a telegraph pole.

 

 

The old boy was back when I got home with 8 steers on the truck.  He brought them round and we got them off the truck, drenched them and put them out in the paddock as the day cooled down.

 

 

For dinner I barbequed some of the sausages the butcher made from that heifer the other week.  They're good sausages, but terribly fatty which is why I far prefer to cook them on the barbeque than in the frying pan - it makes them much leaner.  The only drawback is that the dripping fat tends to ignite -

 

 

This photo doesn't really do justice to the inferno that went before it: basically the whole grill was a sea of flame.  There's no photo of that because I was far more focussed on the food not getting cremated!

 

Today has been dead quiet at work.  Pretty well the only job I had to do today was the Legal Unit's report to the board, a job that took maybe two hours and that would have taken about an hour if I'd been in a hurry.  Otherwise (as I said before) I've been embarrasingly idle.  Frankly, I hate it: after 9 months out of work, and now 3 months in a job that presents no real challenges, I can almost feel my brain going rusty.  Even that post on ecclesiology that I prepared and posted earlier today was in part me filling in time.

 

It was hot and very windy when it came up to lunch.  A total fire ban today - this is a first time I can remember them declaring one of these in October, which is as bad an omen as I can imagine.  Nevertheless, I still decided to walk up to Mactier Park for lunch (once again, fish and salad).

 

 

Mactier Park commemorates Private Robert Mactier VC, who served in the First World War and won the highest possible award for bravery.  The statue of him is incredibly striking, showing him as if he were running.

 

 

As you can see, I has some company at lunch!  This fellow must have had a nest in the tree I was in the shade of, and so he kept hopping around me and giving me a beady look.  I threw him a few bits of lettuce and tomato but he wasn't interested.  He wasn't for sale!

 

 

The afternoon has been quiet, apart from a quick exchange of pages and text messages when a tree came down and blocked the road a couple of blocks away.  For a while it looked like my SES unit would be activated, but then the job was passed to the local council.

 

I'm off to volunteer at the legal centre in town this evening.  Hopefully I'll post further after that and let you know of any further excitement.

 

Hope your days are starting out well!