I stand up from my desk to head off to Bedfordshire. There is the most incredible screeching noise and a huge bug flies up from the floor and crashes into my face. It then takes off to the kitchen wall and stays there.

It is a huge cicada, about 5 cms long.

Later

Anyway she seems to have gone this morning. What a great bug! Her alarm shriek is heart-stopping.

A common outboard motor bug is fuel starvation as I have explained in a previous post. I get up early on this beautiful Saturday. I bring the boat around from Deadman’s Cove, mount the Black Knight and row out into the er blue lagoon. I worked most of last Sunday cleaning gunge and detritus out the fuel system and now is my chance to see if it has made any difference. I pull the cord , nothing. I fiddle with different choke, throttle combinations but there is no sign of life from the Black Knight. Oh dear, but with outboard motors t’was ever thus. I row back in and take out the plug which looks just fine. It is then I spy the gas on /off switch, which is in the off position.

Who cares that I wasted all that time by being stupid? Not me really, I just like being outside with some kind of purpose.

It is a beautiful sub tropical Saturday. Note typhoon damage from last year, poor trees.