Sunny.

With barely a cloud in the sky it was deliciously hot so long as you weren't in the shade which was cold in contrast.

The first event of the day was a lady coming to collect some garden plants. She'd put out a request for them on the Don't Bin it FB group. She's supporting a group of people (with some type of needs) in a house which has a bare garden. I offered her my spare hardy geraniums and yellow loosestrife which she was happy to accept.

Once the plants had been collected it was time to go OUT. I needed fresh fruit and vegetables from the supermarkets but my first stop was BJ's which is now open. As well as their garden centre they sell household goods, pet supplies and some food items. It was great to have a wander around though it was really the garden centre I needed. There I bought more canes for my climbers and then spent a gift voucher I'd been given for Christmas. I wanted some pots to match the grey ones the acers are in. All they had left in the same colour were some wide dish type ones which are nice but really expensive and a single large pot which I bought. It's so big I think you could plant an oak tree in it  but I'm going to repot the red acer into it and then a small red acer with feathery leaves can be moved form the small pot it's in to the smaller ribbed pot. 

There was no queue at Lidl's and only two people in front of me at BJ's but a much longer queue at Tesco's.  I bought most of the items on my list at Lidl's and crossed them off while waiting for the check-out. When I went to look at my list while I waited at Tesco's I couldn't find it which was annoying as I don't trust my memory for such mundane things as a shopping list. As the queue was so long I put my shopping bag on the floor and called out to the person behind me that I was going to get my list from the car which wasn't too far away. I sprinted over to the car but there was no sign of my list. Ran back to my place in the queue and tried to write down the things I needed as I waited. Surprisingly I only missed out one item, oat bran which we haven't run out off but I like to keep a packet for a spare. When I got back in the car I looked again thinking it might have fallen on the floor but no sign. It was only when we unpacked the shopping that I found it underneath a six pack of cat food tins. In Tesco's I had fun at the photo printing machine. I printed out the sea pictures to check how well they will do when printed out much larger to frame and display. They came out so well I might print all three. Today's photos were 8" x 6" and cost 49p each which I thought was pretty good. The garden photo is to draw on with wipe-off marker to plan the new landscaping.

On the way home I dropped off a few things at my friend's house including a birthday card suitable for a man. In Tesco's I picked two cards that I thought might do and then accosted a male member of staff and got him to say which he thought was better. I also bought myself a new dumb phone as the other one stopped working. Because of distancing the chap couldn't put my sim card in it so I'll have to get Peter to show me how to do it. Maybe when his hands are better. I bought him a mandolin slicer/grater with a number of fittings and the first thing he did was slice a bit of his finger, oops. He went upstairs for a plaster and left drops of blood up the wall and on the windowsill. That was after we spent the end of the afternoon sitting out in the garden. Even though there is little covid in this area I still wash all my clothes straight away and have a shower once I come home from the big wide world. Better safe than sorry.