A Smashing day.

Too worn out yesterday to do anything but head for a long sleep. I suspect I may be a little anaemic so I'm going to have 2 squares of dark chocolate in the evenings instead of my usual small piece of flapjack. If that doesn't help I'll either increase the chocolate or take iron tablets. The morning view through the west facing bedroom window. It's such a pleasure to see the fresh green of the new leaves instead of the stark outlines of the trees and their branches.

It's a Bank Holiday today and unlike yesterday which was cold, wet and windy it has been cold, sunny and windy. I can't get too excited about Bank Holidays because they are always on a Monday which is the one day I don't work (or get paid). So I get a little grumpy when I think of everyone else having a paid day off but then plenty of people haven't got a job at all. As it was dry I decided to paint the wood trim under the porch roof so that I can plant up the hanging baskets soon. That sort of maintenance is like housework, nobody notices when the job is done, only if it hasn't been done. Still I know and I did the job properly, sanding down, washing and 2 coats of gloss paint. While waiting for the woodwork to be dry after washing I dug up another bucketful of weeds. I reckon if I do one bucket each day I'll be able to keep the weeds in check. I also made a start on the steps up to the scree garden. It was very satisfying to smash up stuff for the hard core. I used up a lot of the old render that the builders took off our chimneys (but failed to remove) when they re-did the render and I also broke up and used most of the bag of cement that had been left to turn solid after the last attempt to build the steps. (This time I'm doing the job and will see that it gets finished off properly.) I was even mindful of health and safety and wore a pair of safety goggles in case of flying chips. Next is to buy more sand and cement and make the base of the first step.
The diet continues and the lbs are slowly going. Today's treats were the other half of the mint Aero bar and for dinner beef curry served with broccoli and green beans, (no rice).