Sunny.

Lots of sun today but still with a chilly wind. A good day for drying the washing.

After yet another stressful moment of emails not forwarding in a readable format and then disappearing we finally got our homeward air tickets printed. Then came the problem of how to comply with the request to scan our passports. In the end a helpful chatbot took our details and filled in whatever it was they needed and we're all set.

It was a bit windy for hedge cutting but that's what I did anyway.  That was once I'd retrieved the contents of our black bin bag which had blown down the road and all over the cliff after the seagulls decided to rip it open.

The hedge trimming was my main job for the day though I had to spend some time tying in all the clematis shoots that were waving around in the wind. With the ironing done I was able to enjoy sitting out on the terrace for a bit longer than usual. For so many years I've spent most of my time working on one project or another and now at last I have more to relax and enjoy the view.

This evening I went to choir where we revisited that old Welsh favourite Calon Lan as it has been added to the Sing For Water programme. It's generally popular with audiences too as it is sung a lot in schools.

Bottle Kilns.

 

Whilst I was familiar with the sight of bottle kilns I'd never thought much about how they worked so it was interesting to look inside. (I think the iron bands are recent additions to maintain the structural integrity of the kilns.)

So- inside each bottle is a barrel shaped brick kiln that stands on a platform/ base inside which the coal fires would have burned. There are openings all around the base through which more coal would have been shovelled onto a bed of fire. The temperature of 1,000C would have had to be maintained for days at a time for the firing of the pots. Imagine the heat and fumes while all that was going on.

The pottery was fired in rough clay containers and in order for the factory owners not to lose money by letting the kiln cool down the men had to carry out the heavy containers while everything was still red hot.

Sunset last night.