Windy.

The day began with steady rain. I was waiting for it to turn drier before going to the zoo when instead it increased to deluge proportions. That lasted about 30 minutes as predicted and then  it quickly dried up. I was able to leave an hour later having done and sent my Welsh homework and done some Duolingo and for the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon we were back to blue skies. The clouds began to return later in the afternoon but so far there hasn't been any rain. (Must go and get my work trousers from the washing line.) 

As I was about to put out the recycling our neighbour rang the doorbell asking if we had any drain rods he could borrow. Peter offered to help but he just wanted the rods. 

Once at the zoo I used my trusty bow saw to prune back several years worth of growth from a large buddelia bush and then settled into removing weeds from one of the gravelled areas. I finished with coffee and chatting to the other people who help at the zoo. One of them recalled chatting to me in the garden when he'd been helping out our neighbours and he told me that today's drain problem had turned out to be the main drain in the road which is the water board's responsibility. I'm slowly slipping into village life where everyone knows what's going on.

There were more families visiting the zoo today and I had to smile at a pair of sisters getting very excited at seeing the peacocks. One of the girls kept trying to get Mr P. to open his tail which he wouldn't even though he was happy to go to the barrier to accept food. Later just as that family were leaving Mr P. went into display mode and I was able to call the girls over so they could admire him with much excited shrieking.

Back home I watched the waves while pedalling then got on with my kitchen shelves project. Today I painted some metal fittings and then cut 12 , plus 2 extra, bits of wood for the shelf supports. As I sawed I mused on how much quicker and neater it would be if I had a chop saw instead of a not quite the right hand saw but I'm used to making do. Only to have Peter tell me later that he has recently bought a chop saw. But then again, having the equipment is not the same as setting it up and using it. At least now the wood has been cut, sanded and painted.

We'd lost the sun by the time I did my second set of pedalling but this didn't deter the windsurfers and a couple of experienced surfers.