Just one word ...

Routine. It's what makes time flip past these days, and my routine at least is not one that was ever so strictly imposed in the past. Partly it's the need to meet only one deadline in the week - the Sunday online service music. It's strange: Sunday is when the recordings we've made go live; you think you've plenty of time before you need to record any more music and then suddenly it's Wednesday morning and this is when you usually go to do it only ...

Only this morning Himself had an appointment at the optician at just the time we're usually getting on with the singing. So today we were up a bit earlier, and in fact left the house only an hour later than we did when we were at work. It seems silly to feel that we were stealing a march on the day. It did however give me today's blip, when I took a wander round the churchyard while J set up the microphone. I love this leaf-strewn corner, with the mighty pink rhododendron peeping over from the right.

We were just home and enjoying our coffee when the post came. One of the items was a smallish cardboard box - one of these sturdy ones with a perforated strip along the top to open it. It was firmly stuck with red and white "Fragile" tape which proved very difficult to open ... but why was it there? Two boxes of hair colouring, contents all plastic, are not fragile. I pulled off the tape with enormous difficulty and discovered two things: 1. The box had been opened and then sealed shut again with this tape. 2. The original sticky tape was in Russian. I've used this product before - order it through a British website - but never gave a moment's thought to where it was coming from.

We had lunch in garden, then a late walk in Benmore Gardens. The skunk cabbage was out - at least, one yellow sentinel stood guarding the biggest collection of spawn in the whole garden. We heard the unmistakable drumming of our first woodpecker of the year, and a robin was giving it laldy among the tall trees.

And all this - other than the opened package - was routine. 

On The News, the news that the supply of Covid vaccines is going to slow down after this month. But not for people waiting for their second jag. No, it doesn't make sense to me either. But maybe I'm just needing sleep - as usual.