A Peacock .....

............. Butterfly on a buddleia bush - aka Butterfly Bush.

I know there are a lot of blips of butterflies at the moment - sorry - but I'm having a very hot and busy day preparing for guests that arrive this afternoon and this was a blip and run moment.

Quite nice larger

On Wednesday I went out to cut the grass and my petrol mower decided this was the day it would refuse to start .... I've been having "issues" with it for a few months - it starts when cold but not when hot - weird.

Anyway, after pulling at the cord a million times (I exaggerate slightly) and getting very hot and even more frustrated by the minute, I took an executive decision, went online and bought an electric one from Arrgooose (for those in the UK that saw the TV adverts a few years ago) ..... half price and gets decent reviews.

Himself picked it up yesterday afternoon and assembled it ready for me to use this morning .......

WELL ....... it's as light as a feather and feels very plasticky (probably because the whole thing seems to be made of green or black plastic - even the wheels), the grass box is a b***ch to get on and off because the handle is directly above it and the cable is a meagre 10 metres long (32 feet) .....

BUT ...... it's a "magic mower" all the grass that it cut has just disappeared - and I mean gone, vanished, vamoosed. Nothing to bag up, nothing to take to the amenity tip and it didn't fly all over the place and cover me in clippings.

Nothing at all in the grass box and no clumps and lumps on the ground ...... it has a "mulcher attachment" (that Himself fitted and I couldn't remove even though I tried very hard) so off I went ...... couldn't believe how effective it was.

I must be honest and say that it doesn't cut quite as well as the petrol jobby (but it was a sixth of the price) and having to faff about with the electrical cord and an extension cord and try not to "mow" it in half was a PITP (pain in the posterior) but it's done a very credible job and there's nothing to cart away or bag up - almost four hours later the front, side and back grass looks very presentable - I don't as it's very hot and very humid and I'm hot and sticky - and I got a spider in my hair that probably made for a very funny sight as I jumped about swatting my head !

Now to get the Dyson out (other vacuum cleaners are available) - another "Tonka toy" type piece of equipment but, again, very effective!!!!!!

Onward and upward and away we go ............. oh, and by the way, orange robes and headgear at Heathrow yesterday if you haven't seen my back-blip.


~ Anni ~



NIKON D5200 : f/6.3 : 1/500" : 200mm : ISO 500