Happy Birthday Romas.

It's Romas' 27th birthday today (he's still my baby) and I'm sure he will be celebrating this evening with Laura. They're still living up in Stoke on Trent close to Laura's family. He recently started a new job as part of the help team for an on-line company. I've always been so proud of his work ethic and the way he has been prepared to take on any job that provides an income. He's still keeping up his music and besides doing gigs he also gives drumming lessons to a growing number of pupils.  

We woke this morning to beautiful blue skies and lots of sunshine. Not only that but it was very warm. I've just checked the official temperature for Barnstaple and it was 64F! This morning I had to get on with some school work but there was also time to do some weeding under the apple trees. I feel rather guilty at all the windfall apples lying there but I do have a number of tubs of cooked apple in the freezer so the apples didn't take priority.

Today Peter spoke to the estate agents and lowered the house price a bit. We only went with the price suggested by the agent but naturally they aim for the highest price as that gets them more commission. We felt that people were expecting more of a show home for that price which this place isn't though it is in generally good condition. That said we already had 2 viewings booked for this week before Peter spoke to the agent. 

We were both in an optimistic mood until I got in my car to go to work and ......... the battery was flat. We jump started the car but I dropped the car in at the garage when I got to school and they sorted out a new battery. I used to change the battery quite frequently in our last Landrover and that was a heavy old thing but with a minimal charge for the actual work I was happy for Alec to get the right battery and fit it.

It may be arts' week at school but I still did SPaG and PE with today's Year 2 class. After work I collected the car then went into town (bank and library) and did some shopping at Lidl's and Tesco's. I didn't do any shopping at all last week as I preferred to stay at home and be a country mouse. The clocks went back yesterday so it was completely dark when I drove home at 6.00.

It's been so warm that the primroses have begun to flower.

Also - I managed the whole month without eating any meat. At the beginning of the month I saw something suggesting people try going meat-free for October and as my diet is generally low on meat and I hadn't eaten any up to that point I thought I'd give it a try. I still like meat but it is healthier to eat other forms of protein and better for the planet. Also I'm a terrible softie when it comes to the idea of killing animals and I would prefer not to have anything to do with factory farming. I had fish a couple of times but mostly my protein has been from dairy products, pulses and nuts. I think I'll stick with avoiding meat where possible and trying to only buy free range organic meat. I know that dairy farming does result in the killing of male calves but you've got to start somewhere. Thank goodness chocolate is more or less okay.