Wet.

Still raining and at times heavily but with a warmer south-westerly wind.

We haven't been able to meet up with our friends at the library in Mach for a while because the the old bridge and approach road along their route to Mach have been closed. Instead of a five mile drive from Pennal they would have had to take a fifty mile diversion over the mountains which just wasn't practical. With all our various commitments today was the first chance we had to get together to work on our homework and prepare for the next few lessons. After a good session where we made excellent progress reading another book written for learners I braved the pouring rain to check out the shops. Wednesday is also market day (the market dates back to at least 1291) but being out of season the usually large market was just about packed up by the time we had finished at the library. One day I will get there to see the market in all its glory. However a friend had told me about an independent bakery/café that sells a good range of vegan/ vegetarian goods as well as some with meat and I thought I'd give it a try. It was hard to choose between all the tempting items but in the end I decided upon a slice of a savoury pie? filled with potato, aubergine, red peppers and other vegetables and then I couldn't resist a custard slice to go with it. They were very generously sized so I had half of each for a late lunch today ('cos it's choir night) and will have the other halves tomorrow evening. They were both delicious, the pie was not too spicy and had plenty of garlic while the custard slice had fluffy custard with a hint of lemon between the flakiest of pastry. Well worth straying from my current diet and excellent value at £5.50 for the two.

Afterwards I worked off my lunch by donning my waterproof coat and spending a couple of hours digging. I was warm and cosy with the rain pattering down on my hood but I gave up when the rain started running down the insides of my sleeves. As can be seen by the state of my coat things got muddy towards the end but that's another half trench dug.

I've had a good evening singing with the choir and am hoping that it won't be quite so wet tomorrow.