World Days! Playing or not playing rugby. Portents. Raves. Bold birds. Out and about.

We have friends in the Pontevedra Chess School, Escola Xadrez Pontevedra, and I follow their progress on Facebook. Consequently it has been brought to my notice that today is World Chess Day. Who even knew that such a day existed? Nowadays there is a World Day for almost everything. And if there is not an official one for whatever you choose to celebrate, I suggest that you invent one. Anyway, the chess organisation FIDE suggests that all chess players dedicate today to teaching someone else to play their game.

On the subject of games, World Rugby is considering banning trans women from playing women’s rugby because of significant safety concerns that have emerged following recent research, a decision that would make it the first international sports federation to go down that path. Another odd twist in the gender story, although personally I fail to understand why any women, trans or cis, would want to play rugby in the first place! This might, of course, simply because I do not understand rugby.

There is still no sign of the much talked about comet around here. A friend of mine sat up outdoors in the wind last night hoping to snap a photograph of the elusive astral body - to no avail. Comets always used to be taken as omens or harbingers of important events. I wonder what it means if you know there is a significant portent in the sky but you can’t actually see it because of the clouds. Maybe it’s rather like knowing you should take action about a pandemic but not being able to decide what to do for the best.

In the absence of festivals and live music events, some people are organising raves. The police have been having to break up gatherings of about 3000 people. Just part of the madness!

I thought I was back to running in the rain this morning but in the end I did not need my waterproof after all. The bridle laths are beginning to dry out again, which is good. On my way back I stopped to chat with another runner, much more proficient and competitive than I am. Long years ago she was a pupil of mine in the first school I ever taught in. As we talked we noticed a robin only a foot or so away from us. The robins have grown really bold this year, perhaps initially because there were fewer people out and about although their boldness has continued even as more people are around.

My daughter-in-law tells me that the impressive red kites which soar on the thermals above their house in Buckinghamshire have also grown more bold, swooping much lower than ever they used to. We speculated that they might be enticed by increased numbers of people having barbecues. Who knows? But I read that red kites, reintroduced to the UK in the early 1990s are now thriving in the UK.

Out and about yesterday our adventure was less strenuous than the one we did on Friday. We noticed that local cricket was back. this meant we had to negotiate a lot of cars parked on the footpath.

Then we went to look at the duckpond - a reasonable number of ducks but we had no duckfood with us, not even stale bread - played Pooh sticks on the bridge, and admired the view before taking the small people to a playground. Swings and such are still tied up but the sandpit was fine. Here are a few photos.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.