Sunny.

Not quite a Borthbados day today. A keen eye would have spotted dark blue ripples on the water caused by the cold north-easterly wind. Even so I spotted a group swimming at 8.30 this morning. I was tempted to go out for an early morning walk but my ribs and back have been playing up and it wouldn't have been wise. Instead I contented myself with observing the world from our lofty viewpoint.

Another first, somebody out on what I found out is an electric surfboard. Definitely a boys' toy, at over £400 an expensive one at that. Maybe it's a sign of getting old but I really can't see how much enjoyment you can get from one of these after the initial fun of zooming around. Harnessing and working with the power of the waves or the wind yes but standing on something with a motor - not really.

(Picture from the web.)

The delivery man brought the seagull fabric for the curtain though the plain fabric for the door is coming later. The seagulls still make us smile when we look at them. I can't start making the curtains because we still haven't put up the pole. Both kinds of brackets that we have stick out nearly 10 cms and I was hoping to find something a bit tighter in. Even looking at things like storage hooks I couldn't find anything so I think it will have to be one of the ones we have. What I did do today was finish unpicking the big sitting room curtain. Next step is to work out how to add on an extra few inches at the bottom.

Even though it wasn't hot it was still a good drying day so I put some sheets in the machine. Yesterday I bought myself a proper washing line, the kind with a steel core inside plastic. The temporary plastic one I put up originally kept stretching and made walking down the garden hazardous. The new one sits above my head even with washing on it. Then I took some time to sit out in the back garden to think about where to place the bath/pond. Not quite decided on that yet as it needs to go in the shade.

What am I going to do about this colour clash in the front garden? Acid yellow leaves, magenta escallonia and just coming into flower a tomato red escallonia (centre of the photo). They all clash with each other but look to be too old to move. Much nicer is this starflower growing in a trough.

Yesterday the setting sun went down in a blaze of red and once it had almost gone the sky was tinted pink. (The photo is a bit too washed out.)