Wet.

The day began with the kind of heavy drizzle that ends up getting you soaked through. A good day for a long lie-in which we especially appreciated after having to be up and ready for the builder by 9.00 every day last week. That sounds terribly lazy but it follows many years of having to be up by 6.00. Plus the fact that due to aches and pains we often don't sleep that well. A lie-in including breakfast in bed is just one of life's (free) pleasures at this time of life.

With the rain making it too wet to work outside I thought I would begin moving some of the stuff from my study up into the loft. I've been thinking that if I could shift most of the stuff including the 30+ plastic storage boxes the big wall mirror currently squeezed into our bedroom could go on the study wall creating a mini exercise corner. Then I wouldn't have to block the corridor doing my floor exercises. Who knows I might even be inspired to add in more of the Pilates exercises? I'd also be able to move in the digital piano from the sitting room. Grand plans indeed. The first hurdle was finding that although the builder had swept up the loft floor with a dustpan and brush there was still a lot of sawdust around. My trusty Vax was quite heavy and awkward to get up the ladder and into the loft but once there I was able to hoover the whole loft. The loft is about a foot higher at the apex than our old loft so it was still a matter of crawling around on my knees. Thank goodness for my knee pads. I did get all the bags containing curtains up but it wasn't as easy as I had imagined. Empty boxes for my PC were easy enough but I didn't even attempt to get any of the plastic boxes up there. I'm not even sure that once the stuff from our storage unit is up there that there will be enough room.

After a long break to catch my breath I saw that the rain had died down to more of a fine mist. Not wanting to leave the window box in an unfinished state I gathered up my tools and set to work outside. I had begun the job carefully measuring the wood and cladding with a tape measure but I soon found that with the unusual profile of the cladding and my general lack of ability it was mostly better to mark where to cut once I'd offered the bit to be cut against the rest of my creation. Eventually I got the box done just as Peter arrived home in time to help me bring up some of the bags of compost from my car. I started thinking two bags would be enough, then added another and I'll still need to add one more tomorrow. Then I can do the fun bit, planting up with ice plants and grasses.

We both enjoyed the film last night. it was a bit confusing as to what was going on but I think that was the point of it. Best of all there was hardly a sound from the audience unlike at the town cinema. Also I was unable to comment or ask questions something I'm prone to do if we watch a film at home.