fizzling out

I realised today that my 'cold' didn't really develop into anything bothersome; it just kind of hung around for a couple of days and then disappeared. Almost like a brief burst of hay fever. Maybe that's what it was - a minor allergic reaction to some bush or other that had got confused by the warm weather and started behaving like its Spring.
On a similar note - something that has been troubling me in the past couple of months - did anyone actually see any wasps this Summer? Normally our sites are plagued by the bloody things from mid-August onwards, but this year we've barely seen a dozen. I mean, I hate the bloody things and I'm glad they didn't turn up, but it's quite an alarming fall in population if there weren't enough around to be noticed. Last year I was putting up wasp traps and calling out pest control every week; this year there's not been one murmur caused by the wing of an insect. Add to that the fact that we have flowers re-blooming now that should only appear in April and it looks like things might be changing quicker than even I had realised.
But anyway - enough of such depressing things. I am starting to acknowledge that we have a little holiday of our own on the way, and I am starting to get excited about it. Philippa already has a list of things we need to remember to take, and a separate list reminding her where the first list is in case she misplaces it. Bless her, I wish I could show her that holidays are supposed to be about stress relief and relaxation, and that this can start even before you've left the house, but if she isn't fretting about what we need to take with us then she isn't comfortable, so I'll just let her get on with it (and then I'll probably pack my stuff the morning before we leave...).

RC 25-10-24