And the mouse police never sleeps. That might be a song from the 1978 Jethro Tull studio album Heavy Horses, but it’s also the line that comes to mind tonight. Yes, silly o’clock again, though perhaps not quite, at least not yet. It’s 11.00 pm and I’m off on a turf round of Dalhousie Castle, on foot, and the mouse police are out in force. First sighting of these death-for-anything-small-and-furry fiends, was a black and white cat at zone Pittendreich, not far from the house. It’s crouched on the path, tail swishing back and forth, staring rigidly at a pocket of grass. No doubt some small fury rodent is soon to meet its maker.
Next, another form of mouse police, this one from the aerial division, the tawny owl. I catch a glimpse of brown wings in the street light at my next zone, Brixwold. A tawny owl, and it lands on top of the street lamp. Swung the torch onto it but see nothing behind the bright glare of the LED street lamp. As I approach, the tawny takes wing and silently floats away in search of other small furry wee beasties. Next stop, zone KirkCockpen and another cat, all black this one and it’s sitting on the wall between the old and new graveyards. Glad I’m not a wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie.
Approaching my next zone, the recent addition WouldDean, more aerial mouse police. I hear two tawny owls calling and one seems to get louder. I catch sight of movement ahead and above, flick the torch onto full, widen the beam and witness a tawny floating directly towards me, about 10m up. It gently glides past me and out of sight. Then soon after, as I’m leaving zone WouldDean, a flash of light above the field, reflected in the floodlights from the industrial estate. Initially thought a gull, from the recycling yard where they feed, but something much better than that. This time a barn owl. Again, I flick the torch to full and follow the owl as it quarters the wheat field. It eventually lands on the roof of Dalhousie Castle. What a night so far.
After that the mouse police do appear to sleep though still the occasional owl calling in distant woods. Wildlife is sparce as I complete my round of Dalhousie Castle taking another nine zones, most pleasingly from turfer Lord-Dalhousie, other than a few rabbits scampering about. The night is mild but getting cooler and I’ll need my windproof jacket later on. It’s very quiet tonight, not surprising for a Sunday night in the wee small hours. Still some occasional traffic on distant roads but otherwise very serene.
Visitors to Planet Gary might have noticed some issues loading pages. It’s been taking around 20 seconds to load a page, or save blog pages, which renders the site largely unusable. I logged a call back from IONOS* support yesterday for this morning but it’s now working perfectly. Obviously an example of Yhprum’s Law that states “anything that can go right will go right.” I wonder if IONOS monitor the AI Assistant for my questions then check for issues in the background. Fingers crossed Planet Gary keeps working.
On the bicycle front, the ultimate turfing bicycle is complete, however, I still feel the urge to keep on tinkering, trying to improve things further. One option is swapping the 2-piston brake callipers for 4-piston brake callipers, for added stopping power. Investigations are still ongoing. Then there’s the matter of a carbon fibre wheelset. Should I spend £1000 or not? Is it worth the cost for the marginal 200g per wheel weight reduction or minimal saving in watts expended when pedalling. Should I, shouldn’t I or should I do it anyway and to heck with too much thinking? I don’t know. Back again soon.
*My web hosting, and no, they did not call back.
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