Windy.

Today has been windy and fairly cold. Quite bright in the morning but then the clouds covered the sky bringing the occasional shower. Yesterday evening we had some sharp showers including one that left hail lying on the terrace.

I was up and washing my study floor before breakfast when we were surprised by the arrival of the builder. He'd turned up with one of his lads to finish off the garage which is now officially done.

Being aware we might have rain later in the day, after breakfast I headed out for some more hedge trimming. Levelling out the 'hump' turned out to be hard work as it was over the trunk of one of the spikey bushes which meant that I had to use my falling apart loppers to cut through thick stems. Then halfway through that I had to go inside to help clear up a beer flood in Peter's study. His beer deliveries come in large plastic containers and he discovered that the latest delivery had been leaking through a small split in the plastic. This he was clearing up but with his study being jam packed with boxes ( I've refrained from pointing out how haphazardly everything is piled up because like many men people he knows best) the damaged container hit the floor and more beer got spilt. He threw down the mopping up towels but by the time I got to it the beer was already soaking into the bottom of a couple of the cardboard boxes stacked in the room. I mopped up and did my best to dry the boxes even spooning salt along the bases but I suspect there may be some damage to the contents. Unfortunately I don't know what is in those boxes as they came from the loft at Dingles and there are too many boxes stacked on top to have a look. Once the floor was dried I gave the old towels a rinse through in the bathroom sink and hung them out to dry in the back garden. 

Back out for some restorative hedge chopping and then it was time to work in my study. The first downer there was to glance up from the floor where I was cutting the film to size and see a shaft of light all down the side of the left-hand opening window. Closer inspection revealed a gap about 2mm wide through which the wind was gaily blowing. I'm so fed up with those window fitters and would never recommend that firm. I'm sure it's just a matter of a small adjustment but we've had so many problems with the whole window/door installation.

Then, after putting up the first piece of window film came the icing on the cake - I don't like it. I had been expecting it to be more of a frosted effect like the film in the kitchen but this is solid white and I can't really see through the clear bits either. I wasn't 100% sure when I chose it but didn't find anything I liked better. Funnily enough the piece on the drive side where I'd planned to put mirror film doesn't look so bad but overall it's too closed off. Next option is to try some mirror film. I don't want to move into study until the windows are sorted or even put much in there as I don't want passers-by seeing my personal belongings. Maybe I'll put some of the plastic tablecloth back up. 

We had a grey evening but this was yesterday's sunset which I could see from the dining table. Not too bad.