Windy.

The day began with a lot of rain and wind as we were hit by the edge of Storm Malik that has blown across the north of England from Denmark  sadly causing two people to lose their lives. Here the waves proved irresistible to the surfers and we had our usual fun watching them as we ate breakfast. We saw a lot of arms wind milling as surfers tried to stay upright and the occasional spectacular wipe-out. At first there were just a few surfers but the numbers multiplied almost as if each time they duck-dived under a wave they split like an amoeba dividing and came out the other side as two surfers.

We weren't surprised to get a text from the builder saying that he wouldn't be coming to clean off the slabs until Monday and even less surprised when the clouds shifted for an afternoon of blue skies. Mind you the bright spells didn't last long and there were grey and even black clouds lurking nearby.

Apart from the usual things I did some extra scrubbing of the tiles in the 'blue loo' which I've noticed get grubby quite quickly. My fault really for choosing a white based pattern and not washing them daily. I'd scrubbed them with a bleach based cleaner remembering not to use warm water but that hadn't got rid of all the stains which is a shame as I love the design. I looked on-line and found out that you can get specific tile cleaner to do a deep clean. The chap in the video mentioned that it was an alkali based solution so while I don't have any of that hanging around I thought I'd try a dissolved dishwasher tablet. I keep a box because they come in handy for soaking the burnt bits off of saucepans and baking dishes. While the tiles have come up better than before I really need to get the proper stuff and maybe not to walk out in the garden in my flip-flops or at least keep a separate pair to wear indoors.

In the afternoon I sat at the table and finished off the tea-cosy, only a few ends left to sew in. I went through my box of buttons and found some interesting ones to use to close the top of the tea-cosy but when I looked again at the photos I realised it would be better to make a couple of loops that can be hooked over the knob of the lid of the tea-pot.  I won't post a photo of the finished tea-cosy until after it arrives as a present. Nice to make it a bit of a surprise even though it was a request.

From yesterday - I looked out at the calm sea and saw a couple of swimmers walking into the waves. One was clad in a wetsuit topped off with a woolly hat, the sort with a big pom-pom, and the other had just a swimming costume and neoprene gloves, brrr.