Hot.

And suddenly we're in summer. If only it would stay like this until autumn. But I shall enjoy the warmth while it's here. It was so hot in town that I went over to an (older) chap sitting in his newish car in Charlie's car park and asked him what the outside air temperature was according to his car instruments. He was a bit surprised but now I know it was 28C/82F. No wonder it felt as if I was on a Mediterranean holiday.

I was up by 6.00 this morning so had a very relaxed start to the day. Sadly no dolphins to be seen. 

At the stables I rode Cadno again. There were eight of us in the lesson which made it harder to find a space as we added circles or turning across the school to our warm up. The swallows have returned and they were swooping around over our heads. At least the horses are used to them. Most of our lesson was about leg yielding (the horse moves forwards with the front legs crossing so that the horse also goes sideways.) And of course at the same time keeping the horse on the bit (rounded neck). To start with we had to keep in a straight line and were told to look in the mirror across one end of the school to check that the horse wasn't swaying from side to side and to check the way we were sitting. Cadno was doing well and I was fine until I suddenly noticed my sagging midriff. My close fitting lycra top hides little. I did a mental 'aargh', sucked my stomach in and sat up much straighter. On the whole Cadno and I did very well today.

I carried on with my usual Friday routine though after dropping off my hedge clippings at the dump I noticed the traffic to town at a standstill. Not wanting to be stuck in traffic I backtracked and swung around Aber, by way of the only garden centre in the area which had a much better range of stock than I've seen there usually. Didn't buy anything this time. It wasn't quite as warm at home as it had been in town but the washing I put out on the line was mostly dry by the time I brought it in a sunset.

(My 10p primulas are doing very well under the hedge at the bottom of the garden.)

Much as I would have liked to be outside enjoying the weather I spent most of the rest of the day preparing food for tomorrow's visitors. I made a cheesecake, a large pot of 'hearty' soup; smoked sausage, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, potatoes and lentils and prepared some garlic bread ready to be put in the oven. Let's hope the good weather continues for at least one more day.