Crowing About

I was up early for my morning walk. I went down to Wardie but the tide was in (not great to see birds at high-tide) and there were lots of people on the beach, even at 8:10am on an icy morning. It's kinda bitter-sweet. Lovely that people are out and about, many who are swimming. But it means that tranquillity is lacking, the wildlife disappears and from a selfish perspective, it's less pleasurable. I can't complain (well I can) because I was there too! 

I walked along the harbour wall and found myself interacting with this crow! We were actually watching each other. He then jumped to the edge of the wall and started crawing. Time for me to head home.

It was a busy day in which I managed to get all my teaching prep finished in time. I had some marking to do, a few tutorials and other sundries to do. But I finished feeling I had accomplished a lot in the week. Teaching proper is about to begin. The online stuff is fine for me. In fact it has its advantages for the students too. I've spent many years remote coaching and communicating with people all over the world, so maybe I'm not feeling the same pressures as others.

Also, I ordered my new coffee machine. It's taken months of research to finally decide on what I wanted. Making espresso has very many scientific elements to it. A good machine is like a scientific instrument: it needs to be very consistent and to do so means controlling multiple variables. Whilst you can get a fully automatic machine, semi-automatics are better because you can alter variables to get the best taste for a specific coffee. Unfortunately, being able to measure and obtain that precision doesn't come cheap. 

After dinner and watching Winterwatch, I took a grump with Rosemary. If you read the stuff I write, you'll know I like being outdoors and nature. This is slightly dichotomous with living in the city and my desire to move has increased with the pandemic. I took the huff as she doesn't want to move. I went to bed early.