Showers.

It's been a day of sunshine and showers, more showers than sun and a few rainbows too. Last night we finally gave in and turned on the central heating. However the thermostat is only set to 16C/61F, just enough to kick in when things start to get cold. It does make a difference with all the insulation keeping the heat in.

With such a little bit left to do I took a chance on the weather and mixed up enough mortar to finish off the first raised bed. There were a couple of times when I had to cover the corner I was working on and shelter in the garage but eventually it was done. Visually I think it might look better if it was one row lower (don't worry I'm not about to take off a row of facing blocks and hack off the blocks behind though the thought did cross my mind). But it is a perfect height for gardening without bending which was the original purpose. Being critical the rows of blocks are not perfectly straight or level but overall I'm happy and the best thing about these fake stone blocks is that they don't need any maintainance. They're still looking good after thirty years and I'm sure they'll last for the next twenty. 

I had a general tidy round of the area including moving a lot of paving slabs before calling it a day. I still need to reattach the gutter as all the recent rain has been coming off the terrace onto the raised bed. Originally I had hoped not to need a gutter and then the next plan was to put up new guttering. However if I turn around the old brown gutter which I had saved, the non-faded side will be facing outwards. I also plan to run the water into a second water butt which I can tuck in under the hedge so I would have needed to move the brackets anyway. 

To celebrate the completion of the raised bed I had a chocolate brownie and watched the surfers in the wild seas. I kept thinking about going for a beach walk but by the time I made up my mind to go the rain was back. So I just had a nice rest.

A fierce squall has suddenly arrived (5.30) with very heavy rain. I had to laugh when a gust of wind whistling past the front door caused Speedy who was sitting on the doormat, to jump up in surprise.