Showers.

It's been a day of frequent heavy showers with bright spells between. Walking down to aerobics last night the wind had swung round and was blowing icy air down from the arctic. 

There was a good drying wind this morning so I got some washing out on the line. Before I left I asked Peter to bring it in if it started to rain. I'd only been driving for 10 minutes when down came a heavy shower so I didn't hold out much hope for the washing. However when I got home later in the afternoon I found a pile of neatly folded nearly dry washing in the utility room. Peter is out at the moment but I can only assume that the showers missed Borth. The showers carried on all day around me, I saw a lovely rainbow in town and earlier when I left the stables I was caught in a heavy hail storm.

I was back to riding Cadno again. I found an even shorter crop that was only about 12 inches long to use but I only had to tap my leg with it once. (Fellow riders will know just how silly that is.) After we had worked in trot for a while including coming down the centre line as straight as possible which isn't too hard with Cadno we then had the chance to canter half circles whenever we could find a space. It may be a bit childish but I do like a bit of speed even if it is hard work to stop Cadno falling back into trot too early.

I have realised that my riding boots which I bought in my twenties are a size smaller than the shoes I was wearing then which makes them far too tight for my now flattened out feet. I only ever wore them for lessons or shows so I suppose I didn't do much walking around in them. When I was riding the horses I was looking after I wore wellies and had my own safety stirrups. So now I really need to get some new boots. But that is easier said than done. There are three places in town that sell equestrian wear but two only have long black boots in children's sizes and while I found a pair at the third place even though they were size 8 they felt tighter than my current size 7s. The frustrating thing is that I tried on a pair of 8s at the stables, they have long and short boots in all sizes to borrow, and they felt fine. If only I could persuade the owner to sell me those. I have been told that they have a good selection at the Charlie's in Carmarthen so I might try there. It's a 55 mile journey so I will ring first. I could make it into a day out as I haven't been there before.

As well as searching for riding boots I did my usual shopping, took some stuff to a charity shop and went to the bank. There's a big fuss going on since one of the other banks decided to close its branch. Hopefully more people will move to my bank thus making it even more viable. Not everyone is able to or wants to bank on line. I certainly don't. 

Last week I spotted a pine cupboard in Craft that I thought might do on my side of the bed. I took all my measurements in, measured the cupboard and bought it for the princely sun of £18. It is actually a tv unit but if I move the adjustable shelf up I can fit a row of my favourite white storage boxes in above the drawer. The top does need sanding and polishing so I put it straight in the garage where I will be able to work on it.