Cold.

I'm listening to the news of Russia's invasion and attacks on Ukraine. I know it was forecast but I hope and I pray that this is not the start of a major war. 

With events outside our influence I return to the mundane events of my life. Before breakfast I went out to throw out some seeds for the birds but miscalculated the wind again and it all blew down into the front garden. Then I looked up and saw snow on the mountain tops. No surprise as the wind was icily cold.

I have had a very productive day. No zoom class today as it's half-term. The first job done was to level off the fence posts by the panels I'd been shortening. Above is how it looked before from the utility room with the 9ft high fence blocking out the light. The previous owner had a lean-to filling the gap between the lean-to utility room and the wall which had a plastic roof so I guess the fence didn't matter then.

And this is how it looks now. The overall height on our side is still 7ft, more on the neighbour's side as their garden is lower so privacy is still maintained. As I worked the drain that takes the water from the utility room began to overflow. Yikes! This is the only drain on that side of the house that connects with the main drains and I had expressed concern before that the down pipe from the gutter and the pipe from the utility ended right on top of the drain grille making it impossible to access the drain below. I prodded and poked with a thin metal rod and eventually the water stopped overflowing. I left it while I gave the garage wall another coat of white paint and then loaded up the car with stuff for the dump. Then I tackled the drain. First step was to saw the pipes going into the drain. Then I was able to scoop out the water from the drain using an old liquid hand soap container. The last thing was to scoop out all the gravel and sludge from the bottom of the now soapy drain, job done. I've tackled far worse drains before but I still felt proud of myself.

After a wash and a short rest I headed off for a beach walk as the pharmacy had sent a text that we had stuff to collect. 

On the beach the shingle has beem dragged down from the tidy bank built by the digger creating a gentle stony slope. I collected a few small pieces of driftwood to make more sea glass mobiles but there wasn't much else of interest. Yesterday somebody posted a photo of a Portuguese-Man-O-War on the sand at the far end of the beach. Not a nice thing to come across if you're on holiday especially with children as they still sting and cause 'severe pain' even if they are dead. 

Back home I had another break and enjoyed the cheese and onion crisps (chips) I treated myself to after my busy day.

I was gaily watching the rain approaching across the bay when I remembered that I had some washing on the line. I managed to get it in before the rain hit. The forecast isn't very good for the next few days which is another reason why I went for a walk.