Beach Party.

More sun and less wind today but enough to air out another box of clothes.

This is going to be brief as I didn't see the email about the party until quite late and it was nearly 11.00 by the time we got home.

While Peter went into town, braved the holiday shoppers in the supermarket and then bought a bendy attachment for the pressure washer, I carried on bashing blocks. These ones were hard to remove and I'm sure they were stuck together with pure cement. Some got done and I shifted one of the golden privet bushes (or rather cut back stumps) into a tub with plenty of water.

As soon as Peter returned I was back on my knees threading the new hose into the drain. It's a very awkward arrangement of drains with something like a u-bend that I had to push the hose up and around. It did the job but I think we should get it all dug up and replaced with proper access points but Peter worries that we find even more problems with the old system.

It was only as I checked my emails that I saw an invite to a beach party to celebrate the 75th birthday of the guy who leads our Sunday walks. It didn't take long to throw chairs and everything else we needed in the back of the car and drive down to the other end of the village to meet friends from the walking group and the rowing club and make new friends too.

Our hostess provided baked potatoes with fillings and of course people also brought food and cake. One unusual thing was a large number, almost a plague of tiny black beetles which had flown in from the bog. We had to keep our hands over our glasses and food if we didn't want to be eating extra protein. At least they didn't bite. There were a few midges later on but standing next to the Swedish candles helped keep them away.

Although we could see our house across the water the setting sun wasn't being reflected in our windows and then onto the sea unlike the houses further down the road.