Wet.

Back to rain again today with just a few sunny interludes.

Lots of the fields around the stables showed signs of flooding. It was still raining heavily and I was very glad that we were having our lesson in the indoor school. (This video shows the riding school when the fields are not flooded.) Today I rode Margaret again. It's fun riding her as she is very responsive if you ride correctly. We didn't do any cantering today so I didn't get a chance to see if I could keep her in a nice calm canter as that's where she can be a bit scatty. Today's lesson was all in trot, apart from warming up and cooling down, working on being on the bit, correct bend, leg yielding and some medium trot all of which Margaret did well. And I was injured before even getting on her. I stabbed my finger with a buckle spike as I was tightening the girth and had blood oozing from my finger. Luckily I had my new gloves to put on to soak up the blood and didn't need to ask for a plaster. I was so brave.

Afterwards I stopped to take some photos of the river. It was still raining at that point but the sun managed to break through for a while.

Driving back to town along the main A road I could see flooding right up to the road. No wonder I kept seeing reports that the road was closed due to flooding. Once the rain stopped I could see small clouds sitting below the hills and a chunk of rainbow but there wasn't anywhere to stop to take photos. 

By the time I finished shopping in Morrisons it was pouring again and stayed that way for the rest of the day. I had to go right into town to drop off a big bag of clothing in the charity shop after which I made a quick stop at Lidl's and headed home.

I bought yet more hangers in town and was able to empty several more storage tubs. Some clothes went in the next charity shop pile while the rest are in the wardrobe. I may still have to winnow out more clothes as even I have to admit that I may not need quite so many tops/vests in terracotta, a favourite of mine or plain black. We'll see.

I also finished the cosy for the cafetiere. The old one had become floppy and a bit stained and was royal blue and white, colours that matched the old kitchen so it was time for a new one. I don't leave a gap for the spout as the coffee would dribble on the cosy but it's good to keep the coffee hot while it's brewing. I can't bear the thought of yet another large gadget in the kitchen so have no desire for a modern coffee maker.