The Longest Day

although here in the CJS office we're really hoping that it won't be significantly longer than any other Friday - which is always busy, chaotic and generally manic!  Although officially today is the summer solstice (just in case you didn't know) and this morning in the murk and mist hundreds of people gathered at Stonehenge to watch the sun rise, or rather to see the the sky become gradually less dark as the mist obscured the sun. However, I can no longer watch the druidic celebrations without getting a wry smile thanks to Mitch Benn on the Now Show last year (listen here) and my mind is filled with visions of cartoon wizards all slightly rotund and dressed in flowing robes bouncing around on their inflatable Stonehenge.

I hadn't intended to witness sunrise however, the grey dawn was greeted in Goathland by a male blackbird perching on my open window shouting all about it to the whole village - very, very loudly at 3.45am, pleased I was not!  A little later on the fog lifted and it was a very mixed dawn chorus, the blackbirds moved on to catch the early worms but the curlew and lapwing in the field were calling, the pheasant joined in and then a couple of herring gulls flapped in from Whitby screeching their arrival.  The wood pigeons purred, the swifts screamed and for only the third time this year I heard the cuckoo all to the usual backdrop of an assortment of finches, tits and an annoying chiff-chaff.

And on this longest day of 2013 we have all the lights on and need waterproofs to venture  outside, so we're actually quite happy to be here busy working on various CJS projects including the latest weekly edition which has gone to print and will be online soon.  This week there are 38 adverts for paid posts (25 direct to CJS) plus nine more for volunteers and also the calendar of work days happening in July.

Mr W is delighted to report that he's the first in Green End to finish shearing his entire flock - all one ancient wether! Keith (the sheep) was not so pleased.