It's been a long time...

Firstly, reader, I'd like to apologise for not blogging more often. There really is no excuse, so I won't trouble you with one.

Secondly, being the recipient of a "comprehensive" school education in the sixties and seventies, I am naturally unsure if the apostrophe in the title of this blog is supposed to be there or not (from a punctuation standpoint). I'd always been governed by my own rule - "It's raining" - the apostrophe is like a raindrop, so you need an apostrophe when "it's" means "it is", but not to indicate possession. But what about "it's" when you mean "it has"? I'm assuming the "it is"rule applies. But please do correct me if I'm wrong. But don't bother to mention that one should not start a sentence with "but" - this is a point of personal style.

Changing the subject - Bird calls.

Bloddie and Kay Tumble (that is to say Bill Oddie and Kate Humble on tv's Spring Watch) say that the collared dove or the wood pigeon (not sure which) is calling "I don't know", or alternatively, "My toe hurts". I wake up each morning to one of those pigeon-y sort of birds calling, "You're very sweet, you're very sweet." I can't make it sound like anything else. By the by, this does make me think of Poe's "Murders in the Rue ...", in which several witnesses think they hear a named foreign accent, each nationality blaming another - can't quite remember the details but then I did read it when I was 17 and now I'm, oooh, between 40 and 42. (Though I seem much younger).

The bird they say calls "Teacher, teacher," does, I'd agree - but I can't always remember its name - I'll hazard a guess at a Great Tit ... (goes to check) ... yes, that's right.

Time for a little bit of bread and no cheese, and maybe a glass of rioja. Although the other day I had some really nice sherry-type wine from Languedoc region with a name like Banyuls...Rivages Pauillac .... If you know where they sell it cheap let me know.

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