Definitely Changing.

 Just before going to bed last night I went into the kitchen to get my book when I heard a plop and a splash.

I looked down to see a toad in the cats' water bowl. I know we are surrounded by nature but that's plain ridiculous. 

More wildlife- a pair of sparrows have made a nest  by our bedroom window so we are constantly serenaded by sparrows chirping. In a way that's a sad sound to me as it brings back memories of living in central London with almost no access to any outside space.The sound of sparrows and town pigeons were the nearest I got to nature. It was especially hard as my first home was St Ives with the sea on 3 sides and even as small children we roamed the tiny back lanes and had free run of the beaches. When we moved up to London I spent the whole year looking forward to the summer when I would go back to Cornwall to stay with friends. There the only time we were indoors was to eat or to sleep. I have no recollection of it ever raining but then I think we played in the barns and sheds. We lived a Bohemian life and were very poor, no tv or radio but plenty of books and creative opportunities. But we never felt deprived, we didn't long for material goods. Clothes were hand-me-downs and we were never subjected to 'going shopping'. With at least 6 children in the household us older ones would have to look after the 'little ones', 2 days a week each, annoying but accepted. No such thing as pocket money but we earned a little picking tomatoes and strawberries at the market garden across the road. I do think that paying us to collect buckets of stones from a field was more an act of constructive charity than a job that needed doing. Days we weren't minding the little ones were spent at the local riding stables and that's where we spent our earnings. And on the days we didn't have money for riding lessons we still got to ride the ponies bareback to and from the fields. For us children those summers were idyllic and it was partly in the hope of giving our boys the same sort of freedom that we moved out of London as soon as we could. Hopefully they will look back on their childhoods as fondly as I do on my Cornish summers. 

Today was my last afternoon at school before the holidays though the children still have one more day. The morning was overcast and incredibly humid. Even though I wasn't doing anything strenuous the sweat was pouring down my back and I took another shower before going to work. As I left the temperature was 42C but when I came home it had dropped to 25C. It's all change just in time for the school summer holiday.

Normally from this gateway I can see down to the sea and across Bideford Bay to Hartland but this afternoon the sea mist had rolled in and obscured the view. 

Coming down the hill more mist was rolling in. Yesterday's late night shipping forecast spoke of 'sudden thundery showers' for nearly all of the sea areas. We haven't had any thunder yet  more is due tomorrow so I've checked all the dams and run-offs just in  case.  

My first job this morning was to write down a list of jobs I hope to do this holidays. It was a full page so maybe they won't all get done and I'm trying not to keep adding to the list but I've just thought of a couple I need to add. Nothing like optimism.