Swallows and Amazons

It's been a madcap sort of a day so far - and it's only mid-afternoon! I woke feeling woozy having slept too deeply after a couple of insomniacal nights - and if that's not a proper word, it ought to be. But the real problems didn't start until after I had walked Fern round Withdean Park, our usual post-breakfast perambulation. I returned to find there had been two phone calls for me while I was out: first, from another Lion who had fallen yesterday and sprained his wrist. I had promised to take him to hospital today for an x-ray if there was no significant improvement overnight. Fortunately, there had been. The second call was from the Lions Housing Society about a potential tenant. This involved me calling back to discuss the problem, then making a phone call to another Lion. He asked a question which led to me examining the Society's last audited accounts, which didn't supply the answer, so I had to ring the Society, call the Lion back, and then call the Society again with the answer to the first question. I had only just finished with that when the phone rang again: it was the agents who manage a flat we own where the tenant had a problem. It seemed he was unable to shut a window. I promised to call over this afternoon and rang the tenant to arrange a time. Soon after, I realised I wouldn't be able to fit it in, so I had to call the managing agents and the tenant to make arrangements for a workman to sort the problem.

This afternoon there were another two calls for me while I was out. I returned the first, which was from the Lions treasurer. We spent nearly 10 minutes discussing an accounting problem but I'm not sure I was able to provide a very good answer. I had no sooner put the phone down than it rang again: the Housing Society again with yet another problem needing my input. The second call while I was out was from another Lion who is due to call back again in about a quarter of an hour, which will no doubt involve another discussion lasting 15 minutes or so. And I must go down to B & Q to get a paint roller if I'm to paint the kitchen walls tomorrow.

Thank goodness for the sanity of a walk across the Downs for an hour or so after lunch. Which is where the swallows and amazons come in. No, nothing to do with the children's books by Arthur Ransome - indeed, I'm really continuing the bird theme from yesterday and the heading should be swallows and buzzards. Or perhaps singular - swallow and buzzard. I was surprised to see a swallow this afternoon, thinking they had already left for their winter holiday in the sun. I was also surprised to see soaring in the distant sky what I am confident was a buzzard. I'm quite used to seeing these raptors in France and on the farm when we visit my cousin, but I can't recall having seen one around Stanmer before. There's absolutely no reason that I know why they shouldn't be seen here: it's just that they aren't - until this afternoon.

Now I must be ready for that phone call, and then I'm sure I'll get caught up in the rush hour traffic going to B & Q.