Wet.

Rain, rain and yet more rain today. It's also quite chilly too.

I had to return the heart monitor to the hospital this morning and was very glad that Peter offered to drive me there. That way he could pull up outside the front entrance while I nipped in and placed the bright red folder I'd been issued with in a box on the reception counter.  

I carried on chasing up my photobook of which there is still no sign. When I checked the invoice I saw they were using the farm address, oops. While maybe I don't remember giving them this address neither did the delivery address to the farm appear when I paid for the book. That I would have spotted. So far I've had an email from the company saying they'll look into it after I left a negative review complaining about nondelivery and the lack of response to my complaint. 

I spent some time this afternoon attempting to draw a jokey adaption of a medieval illustration for a birthday card but eventually gave up due to my best drawing materials being packed away. Apart from that it's been an ordinary day. I'm running out of things to make the place look better and it's too soon to pack more stuff.

Hah! the govt. has just announced that they're abandoning the app they had made for track and trace which everybody has been telling them wasn't fit for purpose. Finally they're going to switch to the Google or Apple one but really it needs to be an add-on to human tracers. Although other countries have moved to these systems in days but it's not due to be up and running here until the winter. Ho hum.

Wet.

For most of the day it's been very grey, often wet with a few spells of rumbling thunder. Not only do I not have to worry about the drive getting washed away but no longer do we have to go round unplugging everything in case the lightning hit the electrical wires strung above the fields. The weather lady has aptly described it as turbulent.

Like the honey bees I've been busy. With the conservatory wood trim job on hold I turned to the staircase bannisters. Being painted white it wasn't a surprise that they had begun to look a bit grubby. Not only grubby but there was a certain degree of stickiness which I assume was grease from our hands.  Not the best impression on anyone coming to view. Having failed previously to  clean the bannisters successfully I turned to the web and found the advice to wipe first with baby wipes, which I'd been doing and then to wipe down with vinegar and water. That didn't make a terrific difference and I think that too much rubbing was causing some of the paint to rub off. However when it was dry I gave it a coat of white paint - silk finish, and now the paint is dry it looks and feels a lot better.

A late night session on FB last night yielded a few interesting snippets. Firstly that large plane on Monday was a C17 Globemaster, an RAF transport plane which was being used for training. Next came the welcome news that plaster is making its way back into the builders' merchants. 7 pallet loads in a local store soon disappeared but Peter has heard from our builder that he'll be collecting his order within days. The final thing  was a friend request from somebody who was one of Peter's friends in the days before we even got together. I did know him too and as Peter doesn't do FB I will respond. 

Speedy struck again this morning. I was on my mat doing a Pilates bridge when he decided to leap from the stool straight onto my stomach. That was quite a surprise and resulted in a loud shriek from me. He stayed in position while I pulsed up and down but had to leave when I did some curl ups to stretch my spine.

High Street Shopping.

Today I took myself off to the High Street. There were some things I needed and I hoped that it wouldn't be too crowded with people enjoying the opening of so many more shops. 

Yes, it was very busy. There were long queues waiting to go inside certain shops but I found that by moving on to the next place I ended up only queueing once and that was only for a short time. I was still one of very few people wearing a face mask/covering. I hadn't worn surgical gloves but my hands have never been so sanitized. Every shop had dispensers on the way in and on the way out which I made good use of.

I had hoped to get some varnish for the wood strips in the conservatory but unfortunately the only small tin of non-clear varnish in Wilko's was gloss. Matt or silk would have done but the gloss would be too much of a contrast. I'll have to get some from B&Q when I do the next supermarket shop. I have to say that Wilko's has been a godsend during the lockdown. Whereas Woollies was filled with so much unneeded rubbish - plastic toys, sweets etc. so no wonder they eventually went bust, Wilko's sells things you need; cleaning goods, bathroom products, garden items, pet supplies and my favourite - DIY goods and home goods. And there's always the thrill of finding a bargain on the small 'reduced' stand. I may not have found the varnish I needed but I did get get a pack of 10 coloured fineliners, a pack of 3 decent biros and a holographic zip up notebook holder with the notebook all with 75% off. I think that was the end of a unicorn themed range and fed right into my fondness for shiny things.

The sky had been filled with clouds when I set off but it felt very warm so my only precaution was to make sure I had a plastic bag in my back pack. That wasn't for me but to keep my electrical gadgets - phone, phone that's not a phone and the heart monitor, dry. Just as I was leaving the High Street there were some loud rumbles overhead which could either have been thunder or a low flying aircraft. Then walking back up Pilton Street (above) I felt a drop of rain and heard definite thunder above. That got me increasing my speed from my usual amble to other people's normal walking speed. Actually since my meds have been sorted I don't seem to get so puffed out or maybe that's just optimism. I kept the speed up until I turned into our estate. There I was slowed down, firstly by a number of highways vehicles parked all over the place as they dug up and renewed the lowered sections of the pavement that allow people to park in their front gardens. and secondly by meeting up with one of our neighbours who had been out for a very long walk pushing her new granddaughter. We chatted our way up the close and still the rain and thunder held off. Half an hour later there was a significant amount of heavy rain and later the rain became torrential with thunder crashes and one loud crack of lightning as the thunderstorms moved across the sky. 

One of the items on my shopping list was a lemon. This was for a lemon drizzle cake which I've already baked. I used a Mary Berry recipe which was surprisingly simple. Just mix everything together! I suppose that's for people who have one of  those fancy cake mixers. I had all the correct ingredients but couldn't resist adding some candied peel and glace cherries that had been sitting in the cupboard. I had a test slice with my supper and it was very nice.

PS Getting to 'Comments' may still need a couple of tries.

Grey.

All day dark grey clouds have loomed overhead looking as if there was going to be a deluge at any moment.  It did rain eventually but not until the end of the afternoon. A good thing too as I had washing out on the line for most of the afternoon.

My day did not begin well when I discovered that the latest computer updates have installed Windows Edge. What I don't understand is why every 'upgrade' results in things that were done with one click taking at least two or more clicks. As to allowing Flash Player so that I can do my on-line jigsaws that ended up with some bad language due to the new instructions being impossible to follow. Luckily Peter was able to give some helpful advice and that problem is now solved. Basically Windows is rubbish (and they don't pay their taxes here) but as the only alternative is to make the complete change to Mac there's not much I can do. 

The afternoon was spent on my latest project to improve the conservatory. Cutting the wood I bought to fit along the sides sounds very simple but for someone with my minimal carpentry skills was a challenge. Just manoeuvring the strips of wood to lay them across two chairs for cutting or butting them up against each other to check the mitre joints was a test of my patience. Not only were there the mitre joints to make but there were vertical plastic covering strips to be taken account of. I worked out how to saw off a piece off the bottom of the two strips that ran down the side panels so that the wood could slip under them and I cut bits out of the wood to fit around the other bumps.

During the afternoon the relative quiet  was disturbed by a military plane flying very low circling the military airfield at Chivenor.

Today there has been yet another easing of the lockdown as all shops are now allowed to open. They still have to maintain social distancing which everyone is used to from the supermarkets. Yesterday our idiot Prime Minister was exhorting us all to go out and shop despite the continuing deaths from Covid especially in urban areas. While I too would love to go out for a mooch around the shops I'll hold back unless there's something I really need. 

Warm.

It's been very warm today both in the sun and under the dark clouds. The weather man on the radio is talking about thunderstorms but I think we missed them.

This afternoon I had something to take to the post box around the corner. Once I'd done that it felt too nice to go straight home so I decided to take the long way back going down to Bradiford and then returnig up the other side of our estate. Peter said he came downstairs to find a very sad looking Speedy waiting by the front door hoping for another walk.

The recent hot weather seems to have suited this fig tree that can be seen above the wall of one of the old houses near the post box.

A very pretty cottage garden outside a genuine cottage in Bradiford. 

While I was out I met a lady I knew walking a dog with her friend. We had a long chat before going our separate ways.

I hadn't been this way for a while and there were lots of flowers to admire. Turning back up into our road I came across a gathering of some of my neighbours having a very well spaced chat in the road. I joined in and carried on chatting for quite a while. Co-incidentally both the lady out with her dog and the one by her house have the same first name.

Before my walk I'd painted the conservatory wall with its final coat of white. The tub of paint is now back in the garage and my handy small (for behind radiators) paint roller has been washed out. I also did a bit of paving slab scraping. If I do a short session each day or so eventually the job will be done.

This garden made me smile.

Changeable.

The weather today has been a bit of everything, lots of clouds, occasional showers and very hot spells with fluffy white clouds in a blue sky.

I woke very early this morning. Looking out of the window the view was obscured by mist above the river and sliding along the sides of the hills. 

I've had quite a productive day which leaves me in a good mood even if my back is twinging a bit. I went down to the garage and found another tub of white matt paint which I used to paint the wall of the conservatory. I'm planning on one more coat tomorrow. 

As I went in and out of the front door Speedy was so desperate to go outside that I took pity on him. Off came his cone and on went his harness and lead. There was a lot of sniffing of marking spots but he walked remarkably well. With only the occasional attempt to divert into other gardens he walked along the path and then down the steps leading to the next street. All I had to do was to call him occasionally. The return trip was a little less dog like and I had to pick him up when he became engrossed in eating a particular grass and there were a few lying down incidents. I finally picked him up when he set off one of the two elderly dogs belonging to the older couple who live opposite us. I had a bit of a chat with the gentleman explaining why Speedy was on a lead and why he had to spend most of his time indoors with a cone on his head.

During a warm spell I cut the big buddleia bush in the front garden back a bit as it's getting so tall that it blocks some of the sky from the sitting room view. I know that I've cut off the flower buds but I hope that it's early enough in the season for side shoots to form. It's a very tired, ordinary wild variety that doesn't have a lot of flowers to attract the butterflies. The 'Black Knight' variety that I planted next to it is doing very well. After reducing the pile of cut branches to a bucketful of cut up pieces I had a tidy of the new climbers. A couple of them keep reaching over and twining around the canes in the neighbouring pots and have to be gently untangled. I also had to empty the water out of the three big tubs that hold a number of the pots. One moment I'm out there every day watering and the next there's a couple of inches of rain water in the tubs. To finish off the day I baked some chocolate chunk cookies for Peter. They came out better this time.

Yesterday in Tesco's I finally found a green 'Dissectum' acer to complete our little collection. Although Peter is not a gardener he does like acers.

Grey.

We had a warm dry morning followed by a few showers and finally heavy rain. The sort that would have had me rushing out to build the dams across the road. The rain is easing off now but I'm sure the internet doesn't like the rain as I can't load up any photos. Maybe it's the Sky dish which needs seeing to. We've recently had some pixilating on the tv so Peter's going to get them to sort out. 

Earlier today I was staring out of the window, a favourite past-time, and saw an orange sail? flying about in the distance. A closer look with the binoculars and the camera zoom revealed somebody having a lovely time kite surfing up and down the river. The tide was in so he had plenty of room to whizz along. 

Being Friday it was time to head out shopping. When I went down to the car I left the door open to clear some of the heat while I went into the garage for my small paint roller. Roller located I went to get into the car and found a friendly young ginger and white cat sitting in the footwell. He came out when I called and then there was some serious head bopping. He then had fun attacking the fluffy paint roller and I had to gently disengage his paws before I could begin my journey to town.

Since the easing of the lockdown things seem to be returning to normal and the traffic was much the same as pre-Covid. There's still the queueing and 6ft distancing in the shops and the perils of navigating around the shops where there are arrows on the floor. In Tesco's I was thinking about sneaking into one of the very wide veg aisles to pick up some white cabbage when a fierce lady shopper told me that I would be going the wrong way. I didn't dare disobey and walked the long way round to get to the correct place. Later in B&Q where I was already a little crochety having been made to take a trolley even though the only items I was after were 10ft long strips of wood. It was going to be difficult carrying the wood upright in one hand while trying to push the trolley. Before I picked up the wood I wanted to have a look at their laminate flooring but found every aisle leading to that area sporting arrows pointing in the wrong direction. In the end I went over to the kitchen deign area and called over to the member of staff asking how I was supposed to get to other side of all those arrows. Her response - the arrows were for guidance only but please keep at a safe distance from other customers. The wood strips are to cover up the gaps around the edges of the wood flooring in the conservatory. It was originally laid (by the previous owners) with no expansion space and with some damp (I think) getting in from the poorly made conservatory the floor rose up in an alarming hump until our very good builder took off some of the edges. The gaps look very messy so I'm going to cover them with the strips fixed so that the flooring boards can expand and contract. The better stuff to use would have been flooring edging but apart from being £22 a strip, the strips of the correct width were 50cms too short.

Having got the small roller from the garage I got set to paint the conservatory wall. Unfortunately there just wasn't enough paint left in the tub. If I haven't got any matt white paint left in the garage I'll just paint the wall with the satin paint.
Saturday morning - Finally I can load my photos.