Hot.

I don't know what the temperature was today but it must have been in the high 20s. At times it felt very close, not surprising with possible thunderstorms forecast. 

My first task was to paint the woodwork in the porch with a first coat of white paint, vinyl silk rather than gloss to avoid the paint yellowing. Next as it was so warm I used the Vax to wash some of the upstairs hall carpet to get rid of the cat smell which I hadn't been able to shift with pet shop odour remover. (Bad cats.) Then as we are due rain tomorrow it was on to mowing the grass. I felt a bit sorry to be mowing down all the cheery dandelions on the communal grass but it's surprising how many survive after my old mower has been over them and it doesn't take long for the rest to spring back into life. Now that the acer in the front lawn is in leaf I can see that it is made up of two varieties grafted together.

After putting away the mower in the garage I brought our sun loungers back up to the house. No sooner had I taken in the dry washing and made a cup of tea than it began to rain. Luckily it didn't last too long and I was able to sit and read outside after cleaning the sun loungers. Being in the damp garage has left the metal frames rusty and the seats mildewed. Luckily the seats cleaned up easily with some scrubbing. For the rust I tried a method I saw on line which surprisingly works though it'll need a long session to do the frames completely. And the method?  Scrubbing with a scrunched up ball of kitchen foil. Some sort of chemical reaction between the aluminium foil and the aluminium frame I suppose.

With only an 18" wall between our front gardens I'm able to enjoy my neighbour's flowering shrubs including this pretty pieris.