Thunderstorms.

All morning a band of thunderstorms rolled over us with plenty of dramatic thunder but not so much lightning. I spent a long time at the window peering through the viewfinder of my camera hoping to catch a flash of lightning without any success. Not even a single attempt. Still I had a lovely view of the grey clouds until we were hit with heavy rain. The sun broke through later this afternoon bringing the high temperatures and more fog. Officially it was 35C/95F in London today and the heatwave should continue for a few more days.

The poor old red acer in the back garden. All the recent high temperatures had frazzled the topmost leaves and now today the storm has knocked the leaves to the ground. Acers prefer to be out of direct sun and hopefully I'll be able to find a less sunny spot in the courtyard garden. 

This morning as the first thunderstorms began I was due at the hospital for an appointment with the cardiologist. I'd been hoping for a lift anyway which I got and then Peter picked me up afterwards saving me a thorough soaking from yet another storm. Everything was very well organised at the hospital. Coming in through the main doors I had to queue before being issued with a squirt of hand gel and a facemask by a volunteer at a desk. From there I went to an almost empty outpatients area, gave my details at yet another desk, temperature scanned, was weighed (they do it to everyone now) and had my blood pressure taken, saw the consultant and was out at the main entrance in less than 15 minutes. Medically my heart has been given the all clear with only a few age related changes which are being taken care of by a low dose tablet. That's very good to know. My heart issues began the day of the final packing to leave Dingles so I'm prepared to take things more easily this time plus a couple of my other medications which I'm no longer taking weren't doing my heart any good.

Back home while enjoying the thunderstorm I had a sort out of my many photos of Red Roofs. Apart from the photos I took on out trips there last year which automatically save in 'day' folders there were plenty of others taken by Peter, sent up by the builders and collected from the web as ideas all jumbled together. I made folders for the different rooms and parts of the garden, shifted the photos around and then renamed everything in the folders into two sets; ideas and chronological photos.  Naturally the biggest folder is one for the Front Garden.

It seems like the progress at Red Roofs continues. Today Peter ordered the laminated flooring plus underlay which will run through most of the house apart from our bedroom, bathrooms and utility room. He's ordered plenty to spare to keep for future use. We went for laminated flooring in the end mainly because of the cost, and Peter negociated a 20% discount too but on reflection solid wood isn't the gold standard in my opinion. Not only is the installation labour intensive but as we found here if it's not properly sealed it generates a lot of dust and any damp in the air causes it to swell. Because we're putting it in the kitchen area and just because we went for a waterproof option. The flooring is due to be delivered this week and if that doesn't run into any difficulties it shouldn't take our builder too long. One more step along the way.