Springwatch aka things we love about the UK

One of the things we love the most about living in the UK is the national love of nature, including birdwatching. When we lived in Australia, a nation full of parrots and other amazing wildlife, we were gently ridiculed for being 'twitchers' and didn't know many people who shared our enthusiasm. Here everyone we know is a bird watcher. It's a national obsession - Britons spend more money (per population) on bird feed than any other nation. There is also a quarterly BBC TV program to celebrate British wildlife (especially birds) called Springwatch (Winterwatch, Summerwatch, Autumnwatch) that runs for a few weeks every season. The show is an hour of footage from hidden cameras into nests and woodlands. It's fab and one of the primary reasons we're very happy to pay our TV license fee. Australia needs a Springwatch. 

Four Years Already

As of 18 January we've lived in Cambridge for four years! It's incredible that it's gone so fast. 

Even with the awfulness of the pandemic, and acknowledging that Melbourne might be a better/safer place to be right now,  we're both happy we made the move. England is interesting, and while we loved and still love Melbourne, we were in a bit of rut and it's been good to shake things up again. 

Speaking of which, I have a new job offer. I won't say too much about it until it's official, but it's been interesting proving my right to work when all our bills/bank correspondence are received electronically (like most people in this century). A friend of ours rightly pointed out that this difficulty is part of the Home Office Hostile Environment Policy to make it difficult for people without the legal right to remain in the UK. It also makes it difficult for those with the right to remain, but it would definitely make things nigh impossible if you weren't here legally (or being supported by someone who is). 

Onto other subjects - this time of year the (very short) days start getting longer dramatically and from here to March we gain 3 to 4+ minutes of light every day (compare this to Atlanta where the biggest change is an increase of 2 mins a day). It's quite dramatic and by the end of March it feels very much like the sky lights have been fully turned on. Of course in October/November you have the reverse and the feeling of the light being turned off  and being plunged into darkness for several months. In the dark of December all the Christmas lights/food/festivity feel very necessary (and much more connected to winter solstice than anything religious). I do enjoy a winter Christmas and this was something that I missed every year in Singapore and Melbourne. And it's great to be back to a country that enjoys Christmas music, and not just the same Michael Bublé songs every year . The primary reason I made an Xmas mix every year we were in Melbs is that Australia does not embrace Christmas music (and fair enough - the songs don't really work in summer), but that is definitely not the case in the UK. I may stop putting the mixes together - the only friends that seem particularly grateful for the mixes are our friends in Oz (unsurprisingly really).

The pic attached was taken on one of early morning walks - the sun is finally starting to rise before 8am and the sunrise was gorgeous this day.