Speckled Wood Butterfly

I'd intended to be up for around 7 AM today, ready for the Sky engineer who was due between 8 and 10 AM. But after getting up at 5 AM due to being disturbed by Minstrel, then going back to bed following a quick bathroom visit, the next thing I knew, it was minutes to 8! 

Brian was fortunately up - I'd apparently said "See you later..." to him when he got up - not my normal morning greeting, which should have maybe clued him in to the fact that I was not fully awake! 

It did not matter as it wasn't until after 9 AM that she arrived. 

She brought the new boxes, and she fitted us a new dish! 

The first thing she did was check our signal strength with a device that plugged into the box and decreed it too weak to work with the Sky Q boxes. So she explored new places that a dish could go where it would not be affected by the tree, checking the signal strength with another device to see where it was strongest. The dish is now positioned on a pole attached to the bathroom wall/roof! We also needed new wires all the way round the outside wall, up the passage and round the front. 

Apparently the walls of our old house are a lot harder to drill through than those of new-build properties!

Once everything was fitted she made sure we knew how it all worked too. She was probably the best technician we have had from Sky. She told us that many of the others would have looked at the tree and just cancelled the job because it was obvious that it was going to be a complicated one. She likes a challenge and to find solutions  whereas many of the others (Blokes!) don't like having to take more time and think outside of the box, so to speak! I am glad we got her! 

Minstrel had to be shut in the spare room whilst the work was going on. The engineer said that she'd heard meowing and checked that a cat had not got into her van on the previous job - it would not have been the first time!

Once he was allowed out, Minstrel was given a meaty stick as compensation for the ordeal of being locked away! 

After a lunch of sausage baps (home made, not from the Van, and vegan sausages for me!) Bri and I took a walk to find a Blip. We went along the cycle path by the river bank so he could take his river shot. I was happy to get this shot of a lovely Speckled Wood butterfly on the walk back. 

Finally I get to Blip a butterfly!

We're watching the test match between England and Sri Lanka now. The picture is so much better now that we are receiving a full-strength signal again.  And no trees were harmed...