Conflagration!

Aries

This is a great day for putting your shoulder to that proverbial wheel and really firing on all cylinders where working matters are concerned. (SMH)

Meh! It was a day of waking up totally listless, rolling over, and pretending to be asleep or dead while the big fella prodded me in various places with a cold wet nose looking for a walk, and the little bloke tap-danced on my shoulders and licked me face all enthusiastic about the day- which I was clearly and belligerently not. I held my ground, and my eyes tightly shut. Rinny groaned and went back to his canvas bed, Salty huffed loudly and curled up tightly on on my head, to wait. And wait. And wait.

I'm pleased to announce that I eventually got it together and dragged myself off to work, but it was ten o'clock before I fired up the computer and plodded on with the Never-ending Chapter (4). I'm trying to thread a path through irreconcilable attitudes towards the use of hazard reduction burning, and the path is highly politicised and perilous.

One of the hot tips that I have received about dealing with listlessness and contagious miserablism is to cultivate the habit of seeking out the admirable and inspiring; at the very least to acknowledge it, since it's omnipresent.

One of this day's great delights, all too easy to walk past or drive a dozer over, is news (to me) of the discovery of up to 20 new species of orchid in Papua New Guinea.