Dry.

Early this morning it looked as if we were going to have a beautiful day but although it stayed dry and was very warm in town, here at the coast it became hazy and a touch chilly.

It's Friday so of course I was riding again. Much as I would like to say it was me the photo below is actually the owner of the stables, Iola on her horse Twig at a recent dressage competition. I've included it because today she was riding Twig in the school during our lesson. We were being taught by Katy, one of the staff though Iola did spend some time working with one of my fellow riders. There were only five of us in the lesson today so there was plenty of room for us to work on leg yielding while Iola worked on changing the leading leg in canter. At the end of the lesson she gave us a demonstration cantering down the middle of the school changing leading leg every couple of strides. It looks like the horse is skipping with its front legs. I rode Margaret today which was fun. She got unsettled when Twig came into he school and started doing her thing of swinging her hindquarters around instead of going in a straight line. Plenty of circles and transitions across the school eventually got her settled.

From the stables I did my usual round of shops and town. I was able to find more white plastic tubs for my shelves at B&M. Last week I could only find two large tubs, one on the top shelf in one aisle and one on the top shelf in another aisle. A few plants did find their way into my baskets too, just rockery plants at £1.50 or less. 

In town one of my stops was at a carpet shop to chose a carpet for the bedroom. (3 and a half years with rugs over bare floorboards has been quite enough.) I'd asked for recommendations on two local FB groups and had over 10 different people/shops recommended. Who knew there was so much call for carpets in a small town like Aber? In the end I picked one that seemed popular and had been used by our next door neighbours too.

My walk to the carpet shop took me close to that lovely local cake/brownie shop - Pwdin, where I found to my horror that it is no longer there. A quick check on-line tells me that they closed at the end of January due to the cost of some of the ingredients used going up by 70%. Such a shame.

By the time I got home all I had the energy to do was to plant out my latest purchases. The tomatoes went out too and all bar the smallest one have been carefully tied to their new supports.