Stormy.

Breezy and wet was the morning forecast but I think they underestimated the quantities of rain and wind. Looking out of the kitchen window I could see the poor acer had been blown over again and some of the showers were torrential. 

As happens occasionally I was up and doing my exercises by 7.00. They keep saying that sleep is important at all ages so if I sleep on I accept what my body is telling me. With no plans to go out today I was able to have a quiet afternoon writing up my journal.  

While doing my afternoon pedalling Speedy had a serious battle with the sofa throw. For most of the time all I could see was the occasional flash of leg or tail as he slid about on the floor dragging the throw down over him. I do feel sorry for him being cooped up inside for so many months. I felt so sorry that off came the cone, on went the jacket and lead and out we went for a walk.  Apart from trying to go in the neighbours' front gardens Speedy had a good old sniff around. He's already trained to come to a quick whistle and I used that to encourage him to walk along the pavement instead of just lying down. The neighbours must think I'm a mad cat lady.

One job I did towards the eventual move was to go through a trolley of cleaning stuff all carefully sorted into old ice-cream tubs, to see if there was anything that could be given away. There's a big difference between throwing stuff out and passing it on to be reused. One example was all these spare brushes. Some were for horses, another for dogs and others for shoes. I have still kept a set of brushes should we ever need to polish shoes or brush an animal. There might even be shoe brushes dating back to the time I was at boarding school when shoe polishing was a daily chore and I remember the time when Romas had to polish his boots when he was in the Sea Cadets. I think one reason why people of my and my parents' generations kept things that still had some use harks back to the deprivations during the last war and living on a limited income. Some of the brushes would have been used by my mother to polish up wood or metal for her sculptures. Somebody has already claimed these and another person is collecting a large amount of sturdy plastic cutlery that I also put on the free site.

Finally, I did overcome my British reserve and phoned the council about the butcher's disregard of the way to handle cooked meats and raw meat sold from the same counter. Partly because there may be more older vulnerable people who prefer to go to an independent shop rather than the supermarket. And in the same vein I found out today that I may have been breaking the law for years, that is if the law goes back that far. Which law? The one that forbids the feeding of any household scraps to hens unless they are from a vegan household. That's to prevent the possibility of cross contamination from meat products which our dogs or cats ate anyway.

Hot and Cold.

A lot of clouds today with the occasional shower. My attire as I walked into town reflected the changeable weather. Flip-flops and sunglasses for the hot spells, it is June and summer after all but a jacket and ear wrap for the cold spells when the clouds covered the sun. First stop was the chemist to pick up one medicine which they should have had last week. Hopefully the pharmacy in the Borth medical centre will be more efficient. Then to the butcher to get some Cumberland sausages for Peter. Despite the big notice on the wall stating the handwashing and clean apron routine when serving cooked meats such as ham neither of the butchers weighing out ham for two customers before me did any of it. It didn't matter to me as I was the one buying raw meat but the chances of cross-contamination there are high. I think I'll have to make a phone call tomorrow. Not because I'm a busybody but to protect the public.

While I was in town I dropped into the forces charity shop in what used to be B.H.S. and came out with a brand new adjustable metal curtain pole still in its packaging.  As I will be hanging double curtains in Borth I think poles will be sturdier than curtain tracks.

Back home I gave the back garden decking and paving a weed and sweep. All the romantic rose petals were swept up and the few weeds disposed of. It was nice and warm as I worked but the minute we sat down to read the clouds rolled in. We abandoned our reading plans and then of course the sun came out again. 

More pink clouds in the evening sky. 

Cool.

A cool day today with plenty of sun and clouds and the occasional shower. My washing had an hour of drying in the garden before I had to hang it up in the conservatory. Coming home tonight the sky was filled with lavender and pink clouds, a few outlined in gold against a blue and pink sky. 

As Peter was down to the last biscuit in the biscuit box I baked a batch of the usual chocolate and peanut butter cookies. Then I had another go at the conservatory roof cleaning out the weird gel from the end of the roof panels.  Cotton buds and a wire twisted around a piece of J cloth did the trick. Cotton buds are so useful for cleaning tricky corners, I hope they come up with an eco-friendly alternative when the current ones are banned.

Determined to get to grips with the alto part for Po Kare Kare I spent some time in the afternoon writing down the notes for the parts we struggle with. My piano and computer are on opposite sides of my (small) study so that involved lots of toing and froing listening to a short burst, writing down the notes and then checking it by playing it on the piano while listening to the PC. Got it done eventually. I didn't bother with the timing because that comes naturally but it was very useful to see the notes and listening to it so many times helped me learn the part as well. I took my words and notes to choir and some of my friends found it helpful especially for the times when our part takes an unexpected note. For our warm up we sang some lively spirituals but then came the dreaded seaweed song. We sing in Irish Gaelic but while the basses were going through their parts my friend pointed out that the words are also uninspiring. For example - I would buy expensive shoes said the seaweed. and The Irish seaweed has a beret and trousers. Once we'd all got to grips with our parts it wasn't quite so bad but we have other much nicer songs that we sing.

Wet.

Steady rain all morning topped off by a deluge in the middle of the day. How thankful I am not to be running out trying to stop water flowing down the drive. A good test of the garage roof with not a drop  getting through to the garage. Not such good news for the conservatory roof which still leaks in one corner. During a lull in the rain I climbed on a chair to see if I could spot how the rain was getting in but it's still a mystery. I did find, after pulling off the strip that caps off the roofing panels, that there was water and a weird gel-like growth (bacterial?) in the ends of the channels that make up the roof panels. I tried poking it with a fine screwdriver but it's difficult stuff to shift. The question is How is the water getting in there?. Hopefully not from the other end of the panels up by the house wall. Maybe it's squeezing under the end piece and being sucked in by whatever is growing in the panels. I'm still not sure how that would result in water ending up inside the conservatory.

As I couldn't do too much outside I spent the afternoon collating my daily notes for last winter and spring ready to be written into my family journal. As usual I read through the journal first and for a while was flummoxed by my visit to the hospital for my …….? With my fancy Tolkien style writing it looked like gams or  garns but then I realised it was in fact gums referring to the time my dentist sent me for a further opinion on a pocket behind one of my teeth. I find my journal very helpful to pinpoint events as often years blend together. I may at some point look into having this blog printed out. Rather a large undertaking I fear.

Off again to Pilates tonight. As the cause of my breathlessness has still to be diagnosed  I made sure I gave myself plenty of small breaks.

Sun and Rain.

 It's been a day of sunshine and light showers.

First thing this morning we had a phone call booking a viewing for 1.00. Peter wasn't going to be home but I was happy to show the people around by myself. We split ourselves up anyway with Peter showing the upstairs and giving the technical details of the heating etc. while I show the downstairs and garden. I spent the morning giving the whole house a thorough clean and then at 12.00 the estate agent phoned cancelling the viewing. They plan to rearrange at a later date. Well, at least the house is done for now.  

Peter had been out collecting the camper so that a different mechanic can look at it. It turns out that it is only the washer that needs changing not the whole tap unit. Also one of the gas pipes is out of date which should have been spotted at the habitation check.  I don't think we'll be using that garage again.

Just for fun I checked out the latest houses for sale in Borth, still thinking that first bungalow might be back on the market but not. What I did see was another bungalow on our road is up for sale at quite a bit more than ours. It does have an extra bedroom but no sea view. At least we won't be the only new people on the street which only has a dozen houses. A new build architect designed house on the next street back is going for over half a million and even a holiday (mobile) home on the campsite behind is going for £210k. We still can't believe our luck and can't wait to move in.

Wild.

The wind is now blowing from the south so it isn't too cold but has brought plenty of showers, some of them very heavy. Now that the nasturtiums have germinated I went out between showers and put all the pebbles back on the surface of the big planter under the sitting room window. Looks nicer and will help keep the moisture in.

Today's job was to finish mending the big crochet throw. First I had to climb up into the loft and find the box with all my wool, furthest away under the eaves, to pick out some matching or at least sympathetic colours. Then followed a quiet afternoon darning and even crocheting to get the throw back to a reasonable state. The mohair squares keep it light and still warm.

Peter has made a large cheese, potatoe, onion and bacon casserole so for tonight I'm abandoning my usual salad and having a cooked supper instead.

Very Hot.

It's officially the first day of summer and scorchingly hot.  The official high temperature was 27C/80.6F in the south-east. It was overcast and muggy in the morning but by the afternoon patches of blue began to appear and it felt even hotter. Summer holiday in the Mediterranean hot. 

I planned to go shopping but I trimmed the blob bushes and mowed the grass so that I could take the bags of grass to the dump first. That I  did but when I parked at Lidl's I realised that although I had my handbag and shopping list my purse was still at home. It didn't take more than 20 minutes to drive home to get my purse but it was highly annoying. At least I didn't find myself at the checkout without my purse. As usual I called in at Tesco's as well where I got Peter a tub of mixed olives and another of anti-pasta tomatoes stuffed with garlic both at 70% off. I bought some bags of the 'cow' fudge which is on special offer at the moment and I doubt if Aberystwyth Tesco's has a Polish section. These have been put away for now as they are not exactly diet fare.

I still mowed part of the communal grass. The media keeps suggesting that we leave the wildflowers for the insects but it doesn't take long for the buttercups, clover and dandelions to reappear. If the grass gets too long it swamps the wildflowers. 

In the end I didn't spend time outside, probably better as the lads, young men really, at the end house had a get together with friends. Not quite a party but lots of loud and uncouth language and loud thumping club type music.