Overcast.

The day has been overcast, cool outside and humid indoors. Once more it's time for our annual beer festival where Peter gets to spend the afternoon serving beer and does a little drinking himself. As I drove him in the clouds were sitting down on the road but had gone back up again when I returned home. One good thing - they've taken away the one way traffic lights at the hospital which were causing such long tail backs and now that it is a roundabout there is no hold up at all. The road is the only bit that's actually finished and they still have to put in the centre and reinstate the footpaths and verges.

I took these photos when I collected Peter at 5.00. Not too many people there at that time and although there were more earlier on Peter said it never got very crowded.  

I called in at the big Tesco's by the station to get more cottage cheese, an essential part of my current diet. They don't sell the value cottage cheese in either of the other 2 Tesco's in town or the Ilfracombe one and I prefer the value cottage cheese to the double the price ordinary one. Naturally I had to go and check out the clothes especially the seemingly never ending sale. I tried on a couple of pairs of lightweight loose trousers and bought a summery pair that are white with a large pastel floral pattern. Perfect for that holiday in the sun I might have some day. There was a lovely loose sleeveless flowy top in peach which  I would have bought if they had it in my size. Maybe you can order it like you can at M&S.

Back home I ventured out into the garden for some weeding in the nursery beds. I started by delicately removing the weeds singly but when I saw hundred of tiny leaves popping up it was time to get out the hoe for wholesale weed destruction. Then I turned my attention to the grass steps and gave them a trim with the scissors as short as I could go. While I did that 2 blackbirds were having a song battle. The winner was up by the scree garden and the other was in the big beech on the corner. I also heard and then saw the heron in one of the trees overhanging the stream. The heron's call is similar to the caw of the rooks but gruffer.

I've been testing Squeaky's hearing and found that she can hear some sounds; the clinking of 2 empty coffee mugs, a very loud clap and her name at full volume and a higher pitch than normal. I had a thought and just now tried our old high pitched dog whistle and she can hear that too. She can't tell where the sounds are coming from and looks in all directions. I've also started using a couple of hand signals to indicate 'follow me' (beckoning) and 'I'm going to stroke you' (wriggling fingers). She may be too old or confused to learn but it's worth a try. Both Patch and Speedy know that whistling means food time.