One afternoon.
Three nut cases.
One beach.
Just 2 hours away from the Cotswolds cottages 
Pagham Beach, near Chichester, West Sussex
Theme Song… “The Sea”, Morcheeba
As many of you know… OK, scratch that. Maybe some of you know that the Condor is a huge vulture that can only be found in the New World, mostly in the Andes and a species in California. Well, I think it is now safe to say that the long extinct Vultur gryphus ssp. europeensis is back!! Ornithologists across the world had lost hope of seeing this marvellous vulture fly over Northern Europe again, but we now have the proof that our very own European Condor is back. This photograph was sent this morning to the RSPB by an anonymous bird enthusiast. We don’t know when this photo was taken, nor where exactly. The identity of the sender couldn’t be retrieved from the reflection in the photo. We don’t know the reasons why the sender wants to be anonymous. Given the importance of the discovery, the photo and the email message are now being analysed by a team of IT experts. We will keep you posted on any updates on this remarkable discovery.
A sunny rain shower: perfect light
Maybe I should sort my photo galleries by season and track down climate changes in the Cotswolds.
It was very amusing to watch journalists spread across the country, having to report on drought warnings… under the rain! This week has been one of the wettest since Winter, yet until 10 days ago we were prepared for the worst drought in years.
Oh well, I guess we’d better get ready for the good ol’ rainy British Summer now
The wacky temporary pot is actually the cover of a stack of empty DVD
I’ve been living in Cirencester for about 18 months now, but I have just recently moved into town. I used to live just outside town, close to the college where I work but pretty much in the middle of nowhere, a.k.a. the lovely British countryside
This morning I went for a walk in town and bought a few things. I was also looking for some very small pebbles for the mini-cacti I put on my TV at home.
I used to have a very big collection of cacti in Pisa. They grow quite well over there, even though the climatic zone is not ideal.
However, in the UK I haven’t had any indoor plants so far, just the jungle of tomatoes I grew last summer. The window of my bedroom in the new house in town is very nice and brings in a lot of light all day long. The TV is right below it, so I thought some cacti would go well there.
St Michael's Park and Holy Trinity Church
On my way back, I stopped in St. Michael’s Park. This park is just about 500 meters from my house and it has tennis courts, children games and also a sort of free BBQ pits area with benches and tables. The town centre has the very typical Cotswolds style, but just minutes away from it one can find beautiful parks and very nice Victorian cottages.
If only it stopped raining, we could try to have a BBQ in the park this weekend. Not a very promising June so far 
The church in the background is Holy Trinity Church. Apparently, it was built by Lord Bathurst. Not very surprising, as he is a recurring name in the history of Cirencester. I shall carry out a little investigation
I recently moved house, so now I’m in the process of changing my address on various documents. One is the Car Registration / Ownership Certificate of my mighty Welsh Nissan with a Scandinavian name.
I remembered that when I bought the car last year it took about 6 weeks to get the certificate with my name and address, so I figured I would start the procedure as soon as possible this time. So last week, the same week I moved house basically, I filled out the old certificate with the new details and I mailed it to the appropriate DVLA office in Swansea. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail with my new certificate.
One week.
It took just about one week, possibly even less, if you take off the mailing times and the weekend.
I am speechless.
There is hope. Sometimes bureaucracy works! Well, they also tell you that if you don’t change the address on the certificate you are breaking the law and you could be given a £1,000 fine. Has anyone ever got fined for that? Really? Strange British laws.
