T is quite an ecstatic atmosphere here around the stadium, not just because it’s early (4PM still very bright in August) but also sunny and the dramatic win not too long ago resonates in the minds of people. I’ve just seen some butterflies coming by and Bottle sits on the door handle.

We’re now just hours away from the long-awaited birthday celebration and today I made some preparations while sunbathing. It’s sunny, but not too hot, so that’s just perfect (no sweating). This morning I bought some gifts I’ve long looked for.

My aim this week – the last week of vacation – isn’t to publish much but to relax as much as possible. On Friday Manchester City has an away match in London. The opponent didn’t far well last season (unlike Bournemouth), so it should not be so hard to win.

oday a squirrel was walking along the fence here (on top of it). It wasn’t the first time, but it’s always a nice sight. Someone near us has begun feeding the birds, so there was a flock of about 200 birds flying there and their population seems to be growing despite weather and climate hardships.

It’s always good to see other people “chipping in” and feeding the wildlife.

Tomorrow football resumes here. First match in nearly 3 month. The trees are still green and owing to recent rainfall the grass is visibly regaining some life.

Maybe tomorrow I can finally write something positive about football. The last game was awful. Didn’t want to even watch it…

think we now have 3 flocks of birds we can regularly feed and easily find. They almost chase us, even before any clapping (to get their attention).

Today I opened a new jar for Bottle’s Friend, the biggest of the birds. I enjoy seeing him eat. This mix is more premium than the typical premium, there are some very expensive seeds in it.

It is kind of sad that, at least the way it seems to us, many young people and kids (young adults sometimes still act like kids) waste their live away at skinnerboxes and “apps”. They could derive so much more joy from birding. And these are living things like us, with emotions, sometimes hunger, sometimes fear.

If we teach people – preferably when they’re still young and gradually form leanings – to be kind to animals they will also learn to be kinder to other human beings. Societies thrive in empathy and collaboration.

At the park, Rianne and I sometimes teach very young kids to feed the birds instead of chasing them. We say, “they are like friends…”

think it is fair to say that climate change is accepted by the vast majority, even some former sceptics, who cannot recall summers this dry and shortages (of water, food etc.) so severe.

It’s not because of “Iran” or “fertilisers”, it is due to human activity, the human population doubling in half a century, as well as pollution, industrialisation, overconsumption and so on.

Climate change and global warming are more urgent issues than ever before.

UST 10 days from now it’ll be the last day of August. It has been a very hot summer.

It’s the warmest season and it won’t be over next month, as some expect further dry spells.

By some standards, summer ends in 1.5 weeks from now:

We are now into the first week of meteorological summer, which began on June 1 and will last until August 31, with autumn beginning on September 1.

Meteorologists divide the seasons up according to weather rhythms and the Gregorian calendar, states the Royal Meteorologists Society (RMETS).

But there is also the astronomical calendar, which marks out summer as being from June 21 until September 21, with autumn beginning the next day and lasting until December 21.

think we’ve now identified 3 different flocks of birds we can feed regularly and every Sunday we can go feed on the other side of Town (depending on the weather). At home, our “favourites” are Sleepy, Bot, and Bot’s Friend. They’re all well behaved now, Sleepy is still trying hard to improve her ‘table manners’ (I help her, I’m being patient) and it gives me great joy to see them flying away with a “full tummy”. If every person did the same, we’d have a lot more wildlife.

One day in the future people will miss wildlife. Let’s not take any of it for granted.

‘ve just noticed that Puppy Breaker thinks merely taking a photograph of an animal can disprove his lack of empathy towards animals (he used to kill them to do his degree).

Years ago I asked him directly why he didn’t devote any money to animals’ charity. He had no compelling response to it. To him, animals are probably just a nuisance.

In his daytime job he creates climate change. It’s a company that makes the world’s most polluting computers to keep going (or running) a pyramid scheme (first fake-coins, now plagiarism-as-a-service).

Greedy people tend not to understand other living things. They lack sympathy and cannot relate to other human beings either (they want to put other humans inside cages).