Windy.

Walking home from the Hall last night the wind blown icy rain felt like sharp needles being driven into my face. Today has remained dry but the steadily increasing wind is a sign that Storm Dave is on its way. Such a shame for the people who have come here on holiday.

It felt strange not to be heading down to the stables this morning as the horses are having the day off. Instead I did some storm proofing in the garden. Small items put away, the trailing geraniums brought back inside before they lose the last of their leaves and all the new growth of the many clematis in the back garden secured. I used to use string which was a fiddly job but the plastic covered wire I use now is a lot easier and can be re-used.

With gusts of maybe up to 60mph predicted I'll also bring in the aluminium garden chairs later.

 

Peter went down to open up the RNLI shop. I walked to the Nisa to see if they had any white cabbage (they didn't) and had a short windy walk along the beach to stretch my legs. I also called in to say hi to Peter. He'd already more than doubled last week's takings, not hard when they were only £5 last week, and  more families were out on the beach in the afternoon so maybe some of them will spend some money in the shop.

And here are a few more photos from yesterday-

Under one of the jetties is the time and tide bell, one of only 12 in the country. It was installed to celebrate the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod. This is the tale of a kingdom protected from the sea by great dykes which was flooded when the man in charge of the sluice gates left them open. There is no evidence for this. Ceredigion bay was a vast scrubby marshland which flooded gradually as sea levels rose. But it's a fun legend.

Seagulls everywhere.

Tywyn and Aberdyfi.

Today has been dry, sometimes sunny, sometimes grey with a chilly breeze.

Nevertheless I've had a lovely day as we've had one of our rare days out. I even managed to nip into two charity shops for a look around. And I think Peter enjoyed it too as he suggested we have days out more often - result!

The main focus of our trip was to drive to Tywyn to get our international driving licences the local shop in this small seaside resort being the only place in Ceredigion where you can get them. (The govt. website said Bow St but they stopped doing them ages ago.) We had everything we needed, cash, photos & driving licences but ran into a problem straight away. As you don't actually need one for Greece which we know but the car hire companies insist, their manual didn't say which one to issue. Luckily the man in the shop searched the internet and found out which one should do. £11 for both wasn't too bad either.

On the way we had stopped in Mach to stock up at the Royal House deli. Paninis for lunch and a pizza pocket (for me) and lasagne (for Peter) for our suppers. 

Coming back from Tywyn we parked in Aberdyfi where we sat on the beach to eat our paninis, chicken, Brie and bacon for Peter and pastrami, chorizo and blue cheese for me which certainly tickled the old taste buds. These were washed down with coffee which we'd brought from home. 

I'm envious of the Aberdyfi's miles of soft sand backed by sand dunes but the fast flowing river (on the left above) makes swimming inadvisable there.

 

Looking across the river Ynyslas was deceptively close,(as Peter can attest after the rowing club rowed across for a regatta) with the white shapes in the distance being the houses and holiday parks of Borth.

Our journey had taken us all the way along one side of the river to Mach where we crossed the Dyfi and came back down the other side of the estuary. Although we can see Tywyn, which is further on round the coast, from here it took nearly an hour to drive there.

All along the harbour wall were families crabbing using bait at the ends of long lines to catch crabs which eventually are returned to the sea. I can just imagine the crabs waiting for the holiday season where in return for sitting in a plastic bucket for a while they get a free meal.

Aberdyfi is a pretty, well maintained village and it was nice to see plenty of people around.

Once we had returned home since the forecast is not good for tomorrow I went out and gave the lavender in the back garden a trim. That's all the cutting back done for now. 

In five minutes I'll be off for my weekly leaping around to disco music. 

Gardening Day.

Much the same weather as yesterday. No drying wind but fine enough for getting out into the garden.

 

No sign of the mouse on last night's trail cam footage. Just a couple of cats. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad sign.

The day began with breakfast and the usual morning chores and until next Welsh class at least a game/activity I devised to help us learn the correct preposition to use with each of 40 verbs (a list our tutor sent us). So far we're getting more of them right every day though I still struggle with just the meaning of a fair proportion of the verbs. And there are a few which take a different preposition if they refer to a person rather than a thing or place. So much to remember!

Once everything was done I headed out into the garden. The first job tackles was removing the honeysuckle which I foolishly thought would be nice to have growing in the hedge. I only planted ie stuck cuttings straight in the ground a few years ago but some of the stems and roots were enormous. Anyone walking along the pavement of the other side of the hedge would have heard lots of puffing and panting as I pulled out as many roots as I could. Plus some dark mutterings when I came across my bête noire in this garden, chunks of polystyrene plant trays that had been used to bulk out the soil. The bottom of the hedge is quite bare there so I'm going to try a shrub as a filler. Only a cheap one from Morrison's as it's not the most ideal growing position.

After a bit of climbing up on the walls to cut back some of the hedge I decided to trim the lavender and the curry plants lining the path. My fingers have been twitching to do this and I was going to wait until next week. But then thought what if it's wet next week? I was perfectly happy with the size the plants were but of course they wouldn't have stayed that size. And much as I like plants growing naturally there isn't room to let the lavender get all spread out. 

To be on the safe side, in case I've cut then curry plants back too hard, I've taken 10 cuttings. I've got the same number of lavender plants growing from last year's cuttings.

Ha! it's just started raining and I'm off to choir in  the next few minutes.

Warmer.

Mostly overcast today but dry and so much warmer.

I set the trail cam up in the morning but so far the only movement has been from a pair of sparrows. I'll keep it running for a couple of days to see if the little mouse reappears. (Ignore the wildly inaccurate date.) 

I spent a good few hours at the zoo tidying up various flower beds. Just trimming the grass edges makes a lot of difference. I brought a few more plants from home, knautia and saxifraga stolonifera for the flower bed by the small play area and more pheasant grass for the the gravel garden. 

The plants (hardy geraniums, ice plants and campanula) already in the flower bed look as if they are going to make a good show this year and in the gravel garden some of the thrift are already flowering.

I finished off with a quick weeding of the 'maze' paths before giving all the weeds and cones to the pigs. Truffle tucked in greedily but Otis came over and lay down for a good belly rub.

The warm weather and the school holidays meant that there were lots of people, mainly families with small children at the zoo.

When I came home I drilled a hole in the drain pipe and fitted an overflow pipe to the water butt by the drive. Only a small job but at least it's something done.

The latest newcomers.

Later I went down to the Hall for an hour of Pilates. It's always good to work the old muscles and we finished off with a bit of relaxation at the end which is also nice.

A Little Wood Mouse.

A bit brighter today with enough wind to dry the washing out on the line.

This morning I went down into the garden to empty out the cafetiere (better for the drains and the plants) when to my surprise I saw a wood mouse sitting on the paving eating one of the seeds I had put out earlier for the birds.

I was concerned that it was just sitting there in the open, an easy target for the many large birds that would love a mouse for their breakfast. Normally they are very cautious little creatures but this one didn't mind me getting quite close to it. When I got too close it ran off to a crevasse between some stones but soon popped out again.

In an effort to dissuade it from coming out into the open I put some seeds close to the wall. It ate some but then went up and sat in the sun. I'm hoping that rather than being ill its lethargy was down to being unable to feed in yesterday's awful weather. Small animals need to eat constantly to maintain their fast metabolisms.

To give it some protection against flying predators I put garden chairs where it was sitting. There's not much else I can do. Once the batteries are charged I'll put the trail cam down there to see if there's any further activity.

I spent a lot of the day outside, washing. First the balustrade glass and the main windows which were nicely frosted over with sea salt. Plus I needed to remove the result of a flypast by a flock of incontinent seagulls.

Then I turned my attention to the car. Considering how meticulous I am in keeping the house and garden clean and tidy the poor car is quite neglected. To me a car is simply a way to get from A to B and I'm happy as long as I can see out of the windows and the number plates are clearly visible. After giving the car a cursory clean last week I decided to get rid of all the moss growing in the trim and around the windscreen. That was mainly because the moss traps water and was blocking the channels that let the water drain from the roof. 

There was a surprising amount of moss and mud in the rubber roof trim and more down the sides of the windscreen. The end of a cable tie proved to be the best tool for scooping out everything clogging up the sides of the windscreen glass. It took a long time but eventually it was done. The rest of the car got a wash as I tried to work out if the small black marks were dirt or chips in the paintwork (some were). Before replacing the roof trim I gave it a spray with weed killer to keep the moss from growing back.

My last job of the day, after a rest, was to iron the duvet cover that had been on the line. 

British Summer Time.

The wind was still icily cold today but as there was much less wind it didn't feel quite so cold. But it rained for most of the day only brightening up at the end of the afternoon.

We're now in British Summertime. We lost an hour during the night and in the morning had to adjust those clocks that didn't change automatically. As one image I saw (but can't find again) said, don't bother with the car's clock, it will be right again in 6 months and unless you have an instruction manual and a hammer leave the cooker timer alone. I never bother with the cooker clock since every time there's a power cut it goes wild. I just press a button to stop it flashing and ignore the numbers.

I had always been told that the change was to allow children to get to school safely but as this FB reel by Hannah Fry says this wasn't the case. And far from making life safer, fatal heart attacks, car accidents and workplace injuries all increase significantly the day after the clocks change.

I don't mind getting up an hour earlier and much appreciate the lighter evenings. no more walking to the Hall in the dark or driving to choir though the drive home will still be in the dark for a while.

 

Forget what I said about rain stopping activity on the water. Not only were the RNLI out for their usual weekly training. (They looked to be having great fun bouncing in and out over the waves,) but a group of experienced (hopefully) surfers spent the morning catching waves.

I spent most of the day doing admin (and maybe watching a few reels.) This included checking and finally sending an email to our local MP asking what he proposes to do about holding the environment agency accountable for the way they allowed the water companies to repeatedly pollute the waterways with untreated sewage. Anyone who watched 'Dirty Business' will know what I'm talking about. I also asked why Sir James Bevan is on the board of Welsh Water. For once I felt I couldn't just sit back and tut about the situation but you are not allowed to start a petition to the Senedd (the Welsh govt) asking to have somebody sacked. Shame. Then I posted on FB asking people to contact their MPs. Maybe they'll do something if enough people make a fuss. I'm not a natural activist and this left me feeling quite drained but I felt I had to do something.

Icy Winds.

There has been a lot of sun today but it was also very cold with the strong and icy northerly winds. 

I was out nice and early on the terrace, well wrapped up drinking tea and then coffee. I spent some time watching a lone surfer who wasn't having much luck as the waves though large were too choppy and irregular to surf. I'm not sure the single cormorant that was fishing close to the cliffs was doing better either as eventually it flew back to the reef. Later a single red kite flew past, cruising low above the edge of the cliff looking for small creatures in the grass.

Whatever the weather (well maybe not rain), sea conditions are usually good for one sport or another. And with today's strong winds out came the kite surfers and a few brave kayakers.

Having got the water butt project out of the way I spent some time working on mix and matching two bar stools. Stage one was to re-cover the seat of one with a piece of leather (salvaged from an unneeded sofa) that was just about the right size. I also used an old exercise mat for a little extra padding.

I used every single upholstery pin in the jar to get it looking reasonably neat and then joined the back piece back on. Next step was to put the seat on the pedestal of the new stool. That's where I ran into problems as I could only undo one of the four bolts. At that point I gave up on the whole project and began looking on-line for a new stool instead. But I couldn't find exactly what I wanted there anyway.

After a coffee and an old episode of Call The Midwife I thought I'd give the bolts one more try. With the aid of a pair of pliers I was able to turn the allan key and soon the old seat was on the new pedestal.

The old seat is still not as padded as the new seat but the new seat has a metal frame that goes up at the sides and presses into my hips so I'll stick with the old seat.

I felt disappointed that I didn't get to work in the garden but it really was bitterly cold and yes my back was twinging after working on the seat. At least I got to see the sun.

A possible heads up to anyone who might be visiting Aber - I've just heard that the Matalan/ Iceland car park has reduced the time limit from 3 hours to 90 minutes. £45 fine if you stay longer. I believe this is due to the council taking away free parking on the prom. I'll have to wear a watch or park in Tesco's if I want to stay longer. Update - There's some confusion about this on the local FB page. It may be that the original person was in the Lidl/ Argos car park which is 90 minutes as people are posting photos of the sign in the Matalan car park which still says 3 hours.