Wet.

It was lovely to be woken up by the sun streaming through the windows. The sunshine put me in a good mood even if the  sun didn't last. It's back to rain once more so I've been working indoors.

My plan for the day was to make a start on putting down new cork tiles in the kitchen. I knew that emptying out the big pine cupboard would take a while and I wasn't wrong. I had kept a lot of china that my mother had collected over the years but I can see there are a many items that I neither need nor want so after washing everything I have sorted out at least a third which can go to a charity shop.  Once I had emptied the cupboard Peter gave me a hand to move it away from the wall. I had anticipated the many  years worth of dust and spiders but I wasn't expecting to see woodworm damage. The woodworm had originated from the cupboard and eaten quite a bit of the wooden skirting board behind the cupboard. Luckily I had the right chemicals to spray on the wall and the cupboard and once the cupboard goes back it will look alright.

After that minor setback I gave the cleared floor area a thorough washing before opening up the box of cork tiles. The first thing I read on the packaging was that the packets should be opened and left for 48 hours to allow the tiles to adjust to the room conditions. I had also naively assumed that 'ready sealed' meant that they had a coat of varnish on but this does not seem to be the case. In the aftercare instructions it says not to wash the flooring, hmm. I'll be off to buy some varnish tomorrow as my kitchen floor needs to be washable. I'm not too upset as it has been hard enough to find the tiles at all and they don't do any in the big DIY places near us. It just means the job will take a little bit longer.

It's funny how one of the yellow azalea bushes put on a lot of leaf growth and has fewer flowers while the other is covered with flowers.