Cold.

It's been a chilly day with plenty of dark clouds but no rain. It's election day for both county and ward councillors. One of my good friends was up for election which was added incentive to vote though we have always made a point of voting. If you don't take part in democratic voting then you have no right to complain. Not that we shouldn't complain when people whose morals and ethics differ from our own end up making all the decisons.

As it was now the correct day I went back to the surgery for my appointment with the respiratory nurse. (I've been finding myself getting out of breath simply walking upstairs.) She was very thorough and although all the different tests showed my lung capacity to be well within normal limits there is still a small possibility that my childhood coughs (I was a very 'chesty' child) could have been undiagnosed childhood asthma which can reappear in later life. I've been issued with a simple spirometer to blow into and record my puff twice a day to show to my doctor when I see her next week. I also told her about the ENT chap at the hospital and even before I said I was going to get a second opinion when we move she suggested getting a second opinion. On the positive side I'm doing all the right things for a healthy life-style. There was one final shock - she measured my height and I'm just under 5ft 7ins when in my younger days I was 5ft 10ins.

After the surgery I continued the hunt for a 12ins paving stone to cover a broken drain pipe by the conservatory. I called in at Jewson's, one of the big builders' merchants but they only had the larger slabs. Then I went across the road to Travis Perkins and not only did they have 12ins slabs but there was even a choice of colour. It's the kind of place where you pay at the counter and then take your receipt out to the yard for somebody to get your items. The counter chap advised me to go and check the free broken pile first as I'd said I didn't mind if a corner was broken but no luck. So I paid my £3 and went outside. The yard man had to get a fork lift to take down a pallet of slabs from the top rack and I only wanted one! The first ones he took out had some sort of staining and the man said if I hadn't already paid he would have given me one of those for free. Never mind, the broken pipe is now covered up, another job out of the way.

While I was out the estate agent, the same firm who sold Dingles for us, came round. He gave a good valuation and said we had done exactly the right amount of renovations for this area and having the certificates for windows, heating and wiring helps too. There should be no problem in selling and somebody will come to take photos on the next sunny day. Peter also managed to negotiate a low estate agents' fee. A lot of people don't realise you can do this.