Grey.

The weather today has swung between horribly hot & humid, wet and cooler & grey. A thunderstorm would be welcome to clear the air. I put a load of pillowcases in the washing machine and hung them up in the conservatory rather than risk the rain. By the afternoon they were dry enough to iron while the washed towel and t-towel weren't.

Look who turned up this morning. I thought my friend who is on the local council had something to do with getting them to come but she says not. So it must have been down to Peter who told both the local and county council that he thought the long grass was a health hazard (possible dogs' mess) to the young children that play on it. I'm so glad they turned up as otherwise I'm sure Peter would have been out there soon damaging his back again.

A lot of my day has been spent happily planning the new kitchen. This involved scale drawings, much examination of the B&Q kitchen product guide and trotting up and down the stairs to double check measurements of our kitchen here. I'm not going for any major layout changes from the kitchen that was there, mostly in the garage now, more of an update and trying to plan ahead as well. Today I worked on the back wall cabinets which includes the fridge, cooker, hob and microwave. The future proofing features include having the oven at counter level so we don't have to bend down to take things out of the oven. While an oven with the door that slides back into the oven would be ideal they're at least £400 extra! so skip that. We also use the microwave a lot so that would be best just below eye level. I think I've sorted the oven/microwave layout as there's a cabinet that takes both at the required heights. To check this and to show Peter I stuck masking tape marked with the top and bottom levels for the oven and microwave on the fridge door. I won't be ordering anything until we're in Borth but it would be good to have the main details sorted now when I can go and look at kitchens. It'll probably be from Wickes as B&Q is not always the best quality.

The lone wheelie bin is still sitting in the middle of the grass. I had a chat with my neighbour on the right and we still haven't been able to pin down whose bin it is. If it's still unclaimed after next Tuesday's rubbish collection one of us will ring the council to take it away as it's unsightly as well as being very dirty.