Thursday 24th June 2021 - Cones and Buzzing

Staycation is a relatively new word, used for holidays taken in your homeland which for us is the UK. Last year, with Covid restrictions on travel, we saw an increase in those taking staycations, resulting in an influx of tourists to the village. Arriving and finding the car park full, they looked to parking on the side streets. What villagers experienced then was parking across their driveways, plus there was double parking as well as cars left on corners thus obstructing views at junctions. Villagers who don’t have off road parking, found it difficult (at times impossible) to find a place to park their vehicles when returning from work, as well as after shopping trips and visits to the hospital, doctors etc. The residents of one cul-de-sac purchased cones to place at the entrance of their road. These deterred cars parking that had previously obstructed their line of sight at the junction, enabling residents to view oncoming traffic and pull out safely. This year, ahead of the peak season, The Parish Council have borrowed cones and done similarly. Currently there are three areas where cones have been strategically placed. With the Covid situation easing but with still some overall uncertainty, staycations are being booked again this year in favour of abroad. What the village needs is an additional/temporary car park, but where could this be located; on the unused camping field? I only hope that this year, villagers are not frustrated by inconsiderate and bad parking and the cones have the desired effect.

At last there are good numbers of bees buzzing in our garden; their numbers have increased each day. Still no honey bees but as mentioned before, various bumbles are enjoying visiting the flowers and now that the Portugal laurel is in flower, we can hear them buzzing above our heads. Yesterday there were also red admiral butterflies flitting about in the Portugal laurel and other parts of the garden, so many that I think there must have been a reasonable sized pupation in the area. The rain in May has resulted in green lushness, not only in our garden but in fields and hedgerows too. In search of elder flowers this morning, to make wine, we were surprised to see how much the cereal crops had grown in the fields. We found a couple of good areas where Peter picked some of the elder flower heads, leaving plenty behind to develop into berries.

Today’s photos are of a cul-de-sac where the cones on the corner have been extended along the kerb and of a bee visiting one of our aliums.