Thunderstorms.

A hot night and morning followed by thunderstorms and a little rain in the afternoon and then back to hot again. Currently it's 35C on the terrace. It's been the hottest day ever (or at least since records began) in the UK according to the radio.

I was naughtly last night and stayed up reading until after 1.00. Even though I woke as usual at 6.30 it was only to open an eye, look at the clock and go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Straight after breakfast I was out scrubbing the terrace slabs while Peter went off to the dump and to do some shopping. On his list were decaff coffee which I'm getting low on and a barbecue cleaning tool to replace the one I wore right down yesterday but somehow he came home without either. He put the list away and then forgot what he needed to get. To be fair he didn't sleep well last night but it was annoying. Instead I went down to the village and found something similar in one of the shops, the only one and it was tucked behind other items on the display stand. I didn't have any trouble with the gulls today. Apparently yesterday a number of fledglings left their nests and then got stuck on the cliff and beach causing the parent birds to be very defensive.

I was just cleaning off the last few slabs when the rain fell. It didn't last very long but more dramatic was the crash of thunder overhead. Lots of people stayed in the water and it took the lifeguards putting out a loudspeaker announcement telling them to get out of the water before they moved. Before the storms the wind was increasing and the waves beginning to look good enough to bodyboard on but after the storms the waves died right down.

This morning Speedy turned up looking a right mess with his fur spikey with dried mud(?) It felt like dry sand or silt but when I wiped him over with a wet cloth it turned black with dirt. I gave him a good wipe over and then brushed him with an old toothbrush. He liked being cleaned that way, a toothbrush is similar in size and feel to a (mother) cat's tongue, and lay there purring until I got most of the dry stuff out. (Although he has his eyes shut in the photo they're fine now.)

The sealant for the terrace arrived this afternoon but you have to wait several days after washing the slabs and it's too hot as well so I shall have to wait until it's cooler.

I noticed that the rusty legs of the side table we keep on the terrace had left some marks on the slabs so today I wire-brushed the rust off the bits that come in contact with the floor and then painted them with Hammerite. Hopefully that should stop the marks. 

There was still time to do some pottering about in the back garden before sitting out in the sun for a while. We ate breakfast indoors as it was cooler but will be eating supper outside.