Envy..... (1 Viewer)

...is a terrible thing. I've sat many an evening, and worse, many an afternoon, dreaming of being out, of throwing sandwiches into a rucksack, and heading off somewhere, anywhere, to get my birding fix. My birding friends, and social media contacts, keep me up to date with what they get up to, and I try to bird vicariously through them. Worse, everyone bar me seems to have a spouse or partner who is at least sympathetic to the urge, no, the need, to immerse ourselves in all things aviform. I have done my best so far, yet, that terrible, awful thing called 'life' has conspired to make this possibly my worst birding year ever.

Compulsory family events always seem to fall on Sundays- my birding day- rather than on my non- virding wife's gym days. The awkwardly money-less period between pay days always seems to fall on my birding days, curtailing my ability to leave Uddingston, never mind go somewhere decent. Needless to say, my year list is a weak, anaemic thing, compared to last year's record- breaker. I've missed spring migration, I'm in real danger of missing the seabird city season (tall cliffs, thousands of razorbills, etc) and I have little hope for the rest of the year.

Much is made by employers of a 'work- life balance' How, though, are we meant to find a balance between three competing demands? Work, family, and birding?

Not a good year for Green Sand. Not a good year at all.