Tuesdays are normally good days

but not today.
Started first thing when I threw a full mug of tea all over the papers, my desk, the dogs, me, the keyboard. We were stunned into immobility as the tea dripped into the floor, fortunately the dogs were not so slow on the uptake and started cleaning up the floor. Several towels later and the spillage was mostly mopped up and now we're all dried up.
Then we put through the card details to take payment for an advert and forgot to bill the VAT, so had to do it again. Plus a few rather odd emails and a couple of slow running computers.
Hebe (the juniorist of office dogs) has a queasy tum on account of the large quantities of butter she stole. So far that's it but we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

On the positive side a charm of goldfinches arrived on the feeders this morning and a family of long tailed tits has just left. Which means winter is just around the corner, lovely for those who relish the cold and pretty gloomy for the hot house flowers who are quietly shrivelling at the hint of impending chill.

Weekly rolls round again

Somehow it's Friday, where has the week gone?? if you find it please send it back...
So it being Friday we're busy printing this week's edition, nine sides this time with 56 new paid post of which 29 came direct to CJS.

On Wednesday the winners of the BWPA were announced at the official opening of the exhibition in London. Have a look at the stunning images on the website. Click Here

Countryside Jobs Service – Readers Survey 2009

We're launching our Biennial Readers' Satisfaction Survey this week.
This is your chance to affect the future direction of CJS and as if that's not enough there are lots of incentives to tick a few boxes.
The first 100 surveys returned will receive two Weekly downloads FREE.
One survey drawn at random will receive a year's membership of either Countryside Management Association or Scottish Countryside Rangers Association. Or if already a member then an additional year's membership. To find out more about the many benefits of membership please visit the websites for CMA: countrysidemanagement.org.uk or for SCRA: www.scra-online.co.uk
One survey drawn at random will receive a adoptions package at Durrell, including two free entry tickets.
For more about Durrell and their adoptions programme please visit their website at: www.durrell.org

So go on, send your thoughts, fill in a survey at: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/Survey/web_survey_2009.htm

Weekly Subscribers get TWO chances for Rangers Association membership because with your membership number you can complete the Weekly Readers Survey too, you'll find this one at: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/Survey/subs_survey_2009.htm
There's also the chance of a year's memberhsip of Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Royal Mail strikes?

It seems likely that we're in for a winter of strike action from postal workers. Some areas have already been badly affected with many million items of post sitting in the back log and today it's been reported that as many as one in every eight items of post arrives late. This is bound to have affected delivery of some copies of CJS, if yours is one of them please contact us and we'll give you temporary access details to download the current edition from the website.

To read the latest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8259867.stm

Another edition

Should now be with subscribers - Royal Mail permitting, threats of more strike action of the weekend and a ballot on national strike action is looking likely. We'll keep you up to date with how any action affects CJS.
The seasons have definitely turned - on last Thursday morning the wire on the top of the field fence was lined with 60-70 swallows, the final muster of the summer, sure enough by tea time they'd all gone and now there are just the odd one or two martins. Over the weekend the first geese skeins have been sighted, and yesterday Maia picked up the first conker of the season, I managed to make her drop it before she crunched it up and ate it - next will be the fly agaric, she's a very strange dog (even more so after the fungi...!).

CJS Monthly

Out today. Paper editions should arrive in today's post, the digital version is already online.
The series of strikes by workers at Royal mail has reported caused a backlog of 2 million items. It's quite likely that some copies of CJS are caught up in this. If yours is one of them then please contact us for details of how else you can obtain an up to date copy.

4 & 20 blackbirds

No, not baked in a pie but all over the garden. Just been to make afternoon coffee (a little late in the day but hey it's Friday and in the CJS office that means furrowed brows and smoking keyboards) and looking out of the kitchen window the lawn is covered in blackbirds somewhere between 12 and 18 at a quick count. One brood have a very distinctive paler head, almost fawn on some of the females; another lot appear to be wearing collars. There's no difference in the food available, still nuts and a sunflower mix plus the off windfall plum although not too many because the Labradors hoover them up (and in Hebe's case pick them from the tree). Any ideas for the sudden flock?
Earlier this week the nuthatch put in it's first appearance for quite a while.
Brows are not quite so furrowed as CJS Weekly has now gone to print, a small seven sides, not bad after the Bank Holiday (and IT problems) there are 57 new paid posts, 39 direct to CJS.

Argh...

On Friday the blog wouldn't work so we couldn't update to let you know the current edition was printing as usual.
Then yesterday, yes I know it was Bank Holiday but we usually ignore those, the server decided it wanted the day off and refused to let anyone sign in. So that's no email, website, internet, database, word processor - fundamentally no computers so we got the day off anyway. This morning whilst it was being fixed we were running on laptops on dial up with only partial data.
Anyway, new a powerpack, some bits of wire, a few smart thumps and the machinery is once again working and we're forging ahead catching up.