Warm.

The day started off by being warm and overcast but the haze gradually dispersed and by the afternoon it could be described as sunny and the evening has been positively balmy.

Much excitement this morning when Peter spotted some dolphins. I grabbed my camera and amidst the usual swirl of water and no dolphin photos I managed to get a decent shot of a tail. The nice thing was that as I watched I was able to alert a group of walkers to the dolphins and they got some sightings too.

Eventually I got myself down to the zoo where I spent four hours frantically weeding. Things had been ticking over nicely but all of a sudden the weeds are popping up everywhere. One section I did today, behind one of the safety barriers, had escaped my notice and was filled with weeds that had already gone to seed. They were easy enough to pull up but even though I tried my best to grab the tops with their seed pods I'm sure they still shed a myriad of seeds. No doubt in a couple of weeks the price of not weeding earlier will be a fine new crop of weeds.  I finished off by weeding a couple of narrow sections by the concrete paths that I've planted up, one with mint and the other with lemon balm. My cunning plan is that by next year or maybe the year after the plants will have filled out and stopped any weeds from growing. Also anyone brushing past them will release their lemon or minty scents.

I didn't take any photos in the zoo, how many times can I post the same animals? but instead stopped on the lane to capture the lush green around the River Leri.

It was late when I got home so the only thing I had time for before getting ready for Pilates was trying to get some sense out of Currys or Cannon regarding the faulty lens cover on my camera. I've only had the camera three months and already a bit of plastic has broken so that I'm reduced to keeping the lens cover on with an elastic band. You'd think that either the shop or the manufacturer would just apologise and offer to send me a new cover. But no, aparently it counts as an accessory even though it came in the box with the camera and I have to buy a replacement. That I will have to do but I'll also be leaving a poor review on the shop's page and mention that I had no problem with the lens cover on my Nikon camera which I used every day for well over ten years. 

Pilates was good as usual and I'm getting better at working out when to take the easier option to look after my back. Anything involving sit-ups is out and strangely enough lying on my back for relaxation can have the opposite effect. Just bending one knee up made it so much easier. But there are other moves which I can do fairly easily, hamstring stretches, full plank and flexibility work for the hips and knees are all fine. It's only bits of me that are falling apart.

Wild flag iris.