Sun and Wind.

A beautiful Borthbados day. The morning (above) was wonderful and it stayed that way all day. I took the photo below at 6.00 to show all the people enjoying the water.

We were up early as the plumber was due to arrive at 8.30. He arrived at 9.30 but he did call to say he would be slightly later and that gave us time to eat our breakfast before he came. 

This is our external oil boiler as it is now. When it was installed the kitchen sink pipe was rerouted to a closer gully which turned out to be a soakaway rather than leading to the main drains. That stopped working about six months ago since when we've been emptying the washing up water onto the garden. Today the plumber pulled the boiler forward about an inch and re-instated the waste pipe from the kitchen sink (the white pipe at the bottom left) so that it runs behind the boiler to the gully leading to the main drain. Hooray, no more tipping the washing up water into the garden. The plumber also disconnected the over-bath shower in the bathroom so that we can dismantle the old airing cupboard and take the tiles off the bathroom walls.

This morning Peter took all my bags of garden waste down to the dump and also did some shopping. While he did that I did my Duo Lingo, played the piano and then pottered about in the garden. I found a hawthorn growing in a tub which I replanted by the neighbours' wall. The poor thing was sitting in a bone dry lump of compost and soil. At least now it's had a good drink and will be able to spread its roots. Peter came back with an empty garden bag (nearly as big as a dumpy bag) and already it's 2/3 full with more hedge cuttings. This time I tidied up the inside of the hedge and then the top of the hedge at the end of the garden. 

When he got back Peter took his bike out for the first time and though he did a lot better than I did he still found it quite tough going.

After the usual break sitting out on the terrace where it was quite windy I had a second session in the garden this time chipping away the mortar from the decorative facing bricks I plan to re-use on the raised beds. Some of them were easy to clean, just a couple of sharp taps with the bolster and off came blocks of mortar while for others the mortar is more like pure cement and had to be chipped off fragment by fragment. I did that for a while and then it was time to do the ironing because it had been a great drying day.