Dry.

It has stayed mostly dry all day with a few moments of sunshine and even fewer moments of light rain.

I knew I wouldn't be riding Tex today as he had been allocated to someone else. Instead I rode Griff (Gruff - strong lord) whom I have ridden once before. He was a real change from Tex both in looks and the way he goes. A little taller and a lot slimmer with a bright chestnut coat and lighter mane he is very pretty. The first thing I noticed after being on chunky Tex was the way he almost seemed to float, at least in comparison. He carries his head well and only needed the lightest of aids to come nicely onto the bit. Leg yielding, no problem. He had no difficulty either in bending his neck to the outside on an 18m circle something that does not come naturally to Tex or even at all! 

We did a lot of the lesson in sitting trot and when I felt how bouncy Griff was I was thankful that I wasn't asked to ride without stirrups.

It was fun riding Griff and being praised for completing the exercises well but in a way I enjoy the challenge of encouraging Tex to become more flexible. I don't think I'll be given Tex every lesson now as there are two people in our lesson at the moment with valid health reasons for riding Tex. My only reason is that I enjoy riding him.

 

I called in at the dump on the way to Morrison's and got rid of 10 sacks of garden waste. We've reached that time of year when everyone is gardening and I had to join the (short) line of cars queuing outside the dump before I could get in.

After that I had my usual look around Hahav. There was a whole collection of crystal serving bowls (they rang nicely when tapped with a fingernail) and other bits going for 99p each. But when would you use them?

At Morrison's I bought three more clematis to fill up a some gaps in the back garden. Really I only needed one but when they are so cheap why not buy extra?

I had a little wander around town and called in at Porthi Aber to see what they had. Often by the time I get there it's just bread rolls and giant pretzels but today there was a lot of bread and trays and trays of pastries from the bakery section of Lidl? I gave in to temptation and as well as our Sunday croissants and a herby bread roll and a cheesy bread roll for Peter I came home with an almond croissant, a pain au chocolat, a fancy doughnut and a giant chocolate cookie. I could have brought home loads more but it wouldn't have done my diet much good. I imagine the uni students must enjoy filling up on those treats. There's no charge but I put money in the box for my goodies. Apart from helping to stretch the budget I can't bear the thought of good food ending up in landfill.

When I got home I unpacked the shopping, planted the clematis, loaded the washing machine and undid the U-bend under the sink as I had problems with it again yesterday. The U-bend was clear and so was the pipe so I don't know why it didn't drain. At the time I got it draining by poking a chopstick down and giving a little jiggle so it must have been a tiny blockage.

Those jobs done I settled down with a big mug of tea and some goodies. I won't be needing supper tonight.