Hottest Day.

It seems fitting that the summer solstice should be the hottest day of the year, in fact we've had the hottest June day in 40 years. We celebrated the solstice with a barbeque though already the sky had begun to haze over. The darkness has fallen earlier than expected due to the sudden lowering of the clouds filling the valley with grey fog. The forecasters may well be right about rain tonight.

I woke early but the balmy warmth soon sent me back to sleep once I'd taken my tablets and poured olive oil into my ear. Our bedroom has stayed at around 84F all day which makes a nice change to our usual cool grey summers.

I needed to make a trip out of the valley so I tried to combine 3 tasks in the one journey. First I stopped by the farm at the top of the valley which sells eggs by the road. I didn't strike lucky there as there was only one box of eggs and they had a post-it with somebody's name on so all I could do was leave the 6 empty egg boxes I'd brought from home (I can't bear to throw away things that can be re-used). Then on to the re-cycling/dump at Ilfracombe to get rid of some old suitcases, an extremely heavy metal thing which has been outside for years and Pyrex casseroles which I put in the sale area. Finally on to Tesco's for milk and fresh fruit. Walking in there the cool air felt most refreshing. With only a handful of really hot days each year it's only the big supermarkets that have air conditioning. At home we just open all the windows and doors for the light breeze to blow through.

It was getting cooler when we ate our barbeque up by the scree garden. Peter had barbequed a couple of courgettes for me and I also went wild and had a beef burger. It seems I am unwittingly following an eating trend and can be described as a flexitarian. Basically it means that mainly I eat fruit and vegetables with meat occasionally, which for me at the moment is probably once a month if that. I'm quite happy to get my protein from cheese, mainly cottage cheese, and milk and once in while tinned fish.

My hula-hoop arrived today and I surprised myself by being able to hula-hoop for a reasonable length of time. All those core strengthening exercises must be working.