Stormy.

Rain nearly all day long, not a gentle sea mist but very heavy rain.

There were a few people this morning swimming in the sea which is a few degrees warmer than the air at the moment but mainly it was just some hardy surfers failing to find any clean surf amongst the messy waves.

Down in the front garden a couple of self seeded oriental poppies have been trying hard to hold on to their exuberant petals. So far they only manage to stay for a couple of days before being blown to shreds by the fierce winds.

I've spent the whole day finishing off our costumes for the carnival. So much time crawling round on my knees cutting up sheets both fabric and cardboard has played havoc with my 'pre-arthritic' knee. A lot of pain in the evening as a result, far more than mixing cement, heaving blocks of concrete or spending hours weeding at the zoo. But at least the costumes are all sorted and I've even waterproofed my turtle ensemble in case the carnival day turns out to be less than dry. My first idea was cling film but then I remembered that I'd saved an enormous plastic bag, big enough for a large mattress though since we haven't bought one recently I can't think what came in the bag. Much use of the stapler and my front and back cardboard shell pieces are now fully plastic wrapped. 

This evening the stormy weather produced some interesting skies.