Rain.

Peter was off to work again today but he had declined to start at his usual time of 8.00 and left an hour later for a 9.00 start. He was so tired yesterday, they didn't even stop for their 30 min lunch break, for which they will get no pay or even thanks but they just wanted to get finished a bit quicker. It was the same again today but at least he was home at 3.30.

After a wet night the day started with frequent heavy showers. I put my gardening clothes on to see how much work I could get done in-between showers but after running back indoors several times I decided I wouldn't risk mixing up any cement. Instead I did a lot of prep work; pulling up weeds and dragging out the old mortar so that I'm ready the next time we have a dry spell. Naturally we then had a long dry spell so I cut down the last stands of purple loosestrife, another of those must-do autumn jobs.

After clearing the little ditch that runs around the bottom lawn to help drain it, my optimistic mind started thinking about the next big job once I've finished re-pointing all the big slabs. If possible I'm going to re-build the wall by the steps. I did build a very good dry wall there years ago but the subsoil I used to in-fill it was our clay subsoil. Eventually the ground water that collected behind it burst through and the wall collapsed. My plan is to use some concrete to strengthen the wall and put in drainage pipes along the bottom. I made a start by clearing the grass and weeds growing in the wall. This is all dependent on how long it takes to finish the paving, ie weather and my work schedule

I was messing about with some stones trying to think of new ideas for Christmas cards. I may do sheep but not the sheep puns because there is already a similar line of sheep pun cards available locally.