Well, back to normal, thank goodness. Me and Philosopher just heaved the Christmas decs up into the loft, so that’s that for another year. Christmas just goes on far, far too long. Mallydams this morning, with more lovely grey seal pups posing for photos. The centre is still quite quiet, apart from seals. Have also included photos of another New Year ritual for us two – going out to Winchelsea to spot the first daffodils of the year – this year it was on 2 January. Weather has been terrible recently, but this was a blessed sunny interlude. Have just had a small ceremonial moment – for the first time, using my new Irish passport to check in for an up-coming flight. Knowing my luck, the first airport experience will mean me waiting in a queue while my English husband goes sailing through… but we’ll see!

Obviously, at Battleaxe’s stage in life, getting an Irish passport was a gesture rather than anything practical. It is very good to know I have freedom of movement and the ability to live and work anywhere in Europe I choose, but I am unlikely to make use of these things. But hey, what of it, I am free, Irish, a citizen of Europe, no longer in thrall to poxy little Brexit Britain! Meanwhile, poor Keir Starmer attempts ‘Brexit resets’. Oh, deary me… the only useful reset would be to rejoin, but that’s not happening in my lifetime.
So, here are some seals, from this morning. You can see the one true ‘whitecoat’, above, with his white fur lanugo, which the pups lose after they are weaned. Interestingly, this baby is much larger and fatter than his older chums, even though he is still on liquidised fish soup – you can see he is now given whole fish, but is not keen on eating them yet. The others have gone through their first moult, and can feed themselves. Nobody quite knows why he is so big – presumably he had a very attentive mother.
They look so cute, don’t they – but they’d bite you if you attempted to touch them.
Winchelsea. We only saw three daffs. The bank they grow on is so choked with vegetation that many of the daffs might not get through. I don’t think the bank is mowed and cleared properly any more, and also the lack of frost has led to rampant weed growth. But look at the lovely sunny scenes. It gladdens the heart to see the sun – we have had far too many horrible grey, damp days. Most people except us in Hastings have had some snow…
That’s all I am going to write in this post. Have got an astonishingly busy few days coming up. Tomorrow is hairdresser and then Novel Writing Group, with me presenting a chapter. Thursday is Book Club at lunchtime and then Stanza poetry group in the evening…