Wild Fires.

It was kind of hazy this morning but with the promise of sun to come.

As I stood outside first thing I was sure I could smell wood smoke. Surely it wasn't from the fire over at Cwm Rheidol but the dark wood of the outside table was covered with tiny flecks of grey ash. When I opened FB somebody had posted (in the early hours) a reassurance that the smoke people in the village could smell and were worried about was coming from Cwm Rheidol almost half an hour's drive away. Though people with breathing difficulties were advised to stay indoors. Not that they were likely to be out at that time of night. We didn't see any sign of the fire when we were riding yesterday as we were were on the far side of a ridge that runs into the upper valley though we did see a fire engine on one of lanes and people were talking about the fire which had been raging since Sunday. They have been using helicopters to drop water on the fire and some people have been warned that they may have to evacuate their homes. You can read more here. There is also a large fire burning on the 'green desert', the remote area above Teifi Pools. That's where we stopped at a bothy on one of our Sunday walks.

Pictures of Cwm Rheidol from the web.

I skipped going to the zoo this week as I wanted to continue with my diy in the utility room. I like planning diy jobs even though I'm not very accurate and yes I measured once and had to cut twice today and that was with a hand saw through the wood from the beech worktop. Apart from getting frustrated with my lack of skill I also get annoyed by the chaos in the garage. Peter has been 'organising' the workshop (most of our large garage) for at least a year but doesn't seem to be making a lot of progress. Looking for tools is a nightmare and stuff like piles of odd pieces of wood is piled on top of anything you need to use like the chop saw. The old workmate went to the dump and was replaced by a cheap new one. The wedges don't stay in place and the whole thing leans at a drunken angle. A better replacement was bought and sits there half assembled. This was a particular annoyance as having broken the blade in the jigsaw I had a lot of hand sawing to do. Not easy when the wood keeps sliding about. But it got done eventually and I have completed the whole job. I had to cut the unit into two pieces under the remaining worktop and then salvage the side of the extra piece and fit it back under the worktop. Once all that was done I treated the wall that was now exposed with anti-mould solution and then two coats of the anti-mould paint. There wasn't significant mould on the wall but dark marks were beginning to appear. I'm still not sure that the damp man who sold the paint to me didn't take me for a ride as the mould keeps returning in our bedroom wardrobe but it's better than nothing. The freezer fitted nicely into the gap and the room feels a lot more spacious now. There was just enough left over worktop to make two shelves for the open unit that I made but I need to buy more of those little peg things to hold up the second shelf. Plus I need to find the tin of white Hammerite that is somewhere in the garage so that I can paint the metal brackets I used to secure the side of the cupboard. 

Later- I've just come home from choir. Some of the songs were really hard to learn tonight but we sang a couple of lively easier songs as well. All good for the old brain.