Sunny.

It was all swapped around with the weather today. First thing in the morning it was cloudy, grey and chilly but then things got better as the sun made a welcome reappearance and stayed for the whole day. Walking around the streets in town where there was very little wind it was positively balmy with plenty of people walking around without coats or jackets. Here we still had a brisk wind which kept things cooler but simply seeing the sun makes such a difference.

This week it was back to the usual Friday routine of riding first thing. I like routine. Today I rode Margaret again. There were only five of us in the lesson which is better though no cantering. Instead we worked on leg yielding and a new exercise for me, riding in a 20m circle then leg yielding to spiral inwards to a 10m circle and back out to 20m. Margaret is very responsive so it wasn't too hard to achieve.

After the lesson I continued with my shopping routine and found some plants at Morrisons. They are usually quite cheap but it's a matter of finding what you want. I got two rockery plants at £1.25 each and two hardy perennials at 2 for £3. My last stop was at a builders' merchants to order a dumpy bag of top soil and a sheet of marine ply to make some corner shelves in my study. That's the last of my big spending for the moment. A good thing too as my riding lessons have gone up by £5, that's a 20% increase which is a bit steep. But there are no other places to ride around here so I have to put up with it or ride less often. It will make me think twice before going on longer rides.

After a reviving mug of coffee at home I went out and put another coat of paint on the brickwork. I hadn't been too happy with the original colour which although cream looked to have a slight green tinge which didn't blend in with the coping stones or the shingle. I delved into my art supplies and found some red calligraphy ink. I mixed in a couple of splashes of that into the paint and although at first it look alarmingly peachy once it dried it turned a warm shade of cream that blends in better with everything else.