Wet.

A grey day with persistant light rain.

Today I took myself off into Aber to do some shopping. Apart from Lidl's basic shopping there were a few items I wanted to look for in the independant shops in town. I found tahini in the health food shop but not dry chick peas and although the local paint shop had coloured fence paint I wasn't going to spend £20 on a 2.5L tin when I only want to paint a panel about 5ft x 2ft. With all the shops now open I was able to visit most of the charity shops for a quick browse. I don't even bother to look at clothes as I have so many still packed away but you never know what 'pretty' things might appear on the shelves. What I did find was a box of new shiny metallic gift bags for 10p each so I bought 10 for future use. (The internet is running extra slow today and the spell checker isn't working so please excuse any spelling mistakes I miss as spelling isn't my strong point.) While I am getting used to the shops in Aber there are a few that we had in Barnstaple that I really miss. First off is that although there are plenty of over the counter builders' merchants there are no 'sheds' ie places where you can wander the aisles. I also miss Wilko's where you could buy quite a good range of diy items in small quantities and yes I miss Primark, Matalan is not the same.  I've checked the population of both towns and the built up area of Barnstaple is nearly double that of Aberystwyth.

When I got home the postman had delivered my new hand-hoe except that it wasn't. What arrived was more of a mini pick axe and quite heavy. I emailed the seller (it was an eBay purchase) and got an immediate and very nice reply. If they can't find the correct hoe I was offered a partial refund on the price if I wanted to keep the one that's here but it's not really suitable. Hopefully they'll have the right hoe as you never know I may be back on gravel weeding duties next week at the zoo.

As it was raining I sat listening to the television hand sewing the second curtain and have almost finished.