Hot.

The photo says it all. All it needed was the sound of cicadas and maybe a few olive trees in the garden and we would have been on a Greek Island.

After breakfast while Peter was exercising on his rowing machine I went and did some more cutting back of the wild meadow in the front garden. This time I worked on my hands and knees cutting the long grass and woody stems of yarrow with secateurs. I could have used the strimmer but it's so vicious I worry about cutting small creatures in half and as it's not too large an area I'd rather go slowly. I cut about a third of the meadow and packed it into a giant garden bag ready to take to the dump on Friday.

Then we put up the first trellis panel, at least I held and Peter drilled. We then moved the rest of the unused panels against this one so that I can make cement pads for the next two posts to sit on. 

With it probably being the hottest day of the summer there was nothing for it but I had to go for a swim. Peter was going to join me but when the waves were too gentle for bodyboarding he changed his mind. Huh! and I'm the one that can't really swim. However I marched myself down to the beach, changed into swim shoes and joined the rest of the throng in the water. The water wasn't quite as warm as I was expecting so I was forced to swim (in short spurts) to stay warm. In between swimming I starfished on my back watching the other people in the water and keeping an eye on our terrace so that I could wave to Peter if he came out to watch me (he didn't). After my swim it was hot enough for me to have walked home in just my swimming costume but my giant towelling hoody covers the 'lockdown lard' well. Once I'd had a shower the weather was just too nice to do anything except sit out on the terrace until the very last moment before supper. 

While we were eating the sun was creating a prism effect in one of the clouds which can sort of be seen in the above photo.

And then we had a glorious sunset.

 

Hot.

It looks as if we are in for a few days, maybe even a week of warm weather. On the radio this morning they said it would be hotter than August which wouldn't be hard as August wasn't that hot. First thing this morning we had a white out with the sea mist creating damp conditions. The mist burnt off by late morning and since then it's been hot and sunny.

While Peter went and collected the camper and drove the spare parts from our kitchen back to Magnet (at last) and then returned with an extra white gloss plank which we need to make some shelves at the end of the larder unit, I did some work in the back garden. Not a lot but I did cut and saw off the ivy roots that were poking out of the ground and then attempted to remove the big concrete slabs that had been at the front of a raised bed. I managed to hack out the line of cement holding two of the slabs together but they're too firmly fixed along the base for me to shift. Peter says he can cut them off with his angle grinder once he's bought the right blade. I finished off with some gentle weeding of the many seedlings popping up in the planted beds in the back garden as there wasn't much else to do.

When Peter returned with the camper I began cleaning its very grubby white bodywork. I'd cleaned one side before we left Pilton last year but the other side had a lot of black stuff on it plus green algae around some of the windows and fittings. I washed off as much as I could with a cloth and soapy water and then rinsed off with the pressure washer. There's still the slope above the windscreen to do and the roof if I can get the big ladder out but it does look a lot better.

The weather has been too nice not to spend time sitting out on the terrace and we had a barbecue supper, Bratwurst with onions and mushrooms in Staffordshire oatcakes. A real fusion meal which we ate outdoors..

 

Sunny.

Another balmy day. Right now at 6pm outsdie it's a pleasant 22C/72F in the shade and an even nicer 29C/84F in the sun.

In the afternoon Peter went out for a row though above is the second crew, I was still in the back garden when Peter was on the water. Lots of people on the beach enjoying the good weather. If we had predictable weather we probably wouldn't talk about it as much but then again maybe we wouldn't appreciate the sunny days either. 

Before getting out the sunlounger I worked in the back garden digging out this small raised bed. Originally it had been inside one of the lean-to's with a large camelia growing in it. Fortunately for me though not for the camelia I'm not keen on camelias and gave the builder the go-ahead to get rid of the plant when he took down the lean-to. Today was about digging out the roots and moving all the old compost to a heap on the other side of the tree trunk. I intend to take down the outer walls of the raised bed and possibly the inner wall too. I'll have to be very careful knocking out the zig-zag piece of concrete because the oil pipe runs along the outside under more concrete. In fact unless I can ease the panel away I'll leave it for the plumber who put in the pipe to do. 

Forgot to mention yesterday that as I walked home I saw a dolphin. After an initial leap and splash right under the cliff it swam slowly out to sea. Still something special to see.

Just worked out what the 'P' at the end of the touch numbers on the hob stands for - Pronto! (It's a Zanussi hob) and it certainly is that. Water in a saucepan boils in a couple of minutes, leave it any longer and there's water everywhere.

 

Sunny.

A sunny day with a surprisingly warm wind blowing from the east. 

After hanging out the washing on the line I took myself for a walk along the beach and yes, I did go to the High Street to see the state of the burned house. Last night it took until 11.00 before the smoke stopped, it had looked unreal in the glare of floodlights against the night sky. The High Street remained closed until mid-morning once the Fire Services were sure everything was fully out. According to the news there were 30 fire fighters with their vehicles from six nearby towns.

Even from the beach it was obvious that the house had suffered major damage.

The back of the house has basically gone. It's amazing how the fire fighters kept the fire from spreading to the cottage next door. I'm assuming from the way the workmen putting up the scaffolding were standing on its roof that there wasn't major structural damage to that property. I did walk through to the High Street but although I could have gone into the pub carpark to take photos of the back of the house where the main damage was I felt that would have been too intrusive. The family that lived there has lost everything and sadly some of their pets too. Somebody has already set up a FundMe page to help with their initial needs as we all know how slow insurance companies can be. 

On the way back along the beach I stopped to chat to the lifeguard on the beach. At the time there were just two paddleboarders and two youngsters in the water so I didn't think I was distracting him from his duties. With the end of summer and the school holidays tomorrow is the last day the lifeguards will be on the beach. He also told me that there aren't any rip currents on this beach which is good to know when guests head for the sea.

Back home I cleaned off the whole length of hose leaving it to dry before winding it back on the reel. Then, not wanting to waste my bucket of water and bleach I scrubbed a plastic bench that we'd found in the back garden. Now instead of an old, faded plastic bench covered with black mould spots we have an old faded plastic bench. Unfortunately I did find a small break in the seat but it should last for a few more years. The good thing about the back garden is that it is sheltered from the wind but on the other hand being so close to the neighbours we get to hear their tv or radio.

It got sunnier and warmer as the afternoon went on so while Peter went off to row I sat out on the terrace reading. No telling how many more lovely days there will be so might as well enjoy them while we can. I ironed the bedding after Peter came home and we'd had a cuppa out on the terrace.

 

Fire in the Village.

Not much in the way of sunhine today.

I got up in good time this morning and had done all my housework before breakfast. I planned to have a restful day turning up those curtains but it wasn't to be. I took down one curtain, pinned and ironed it and only at that point did I find that I didn't have the correct colour sewing cotton. Plenty of black and white cotton and some other random colours but not the cream colour I needed. That job is now on hold until I go into town where there is a fabric shop and a craft shop that both sell a good range of sewing thread. Feeling rather grumpy as my plans unravelled I decided to cheer myself up with a walk on the beach.

At first it was just a quiet walk along an almost empty beach but then events began to unfold. In the time it took me to walk from where I took the above photo to approaching the first pile of rocks (below) clouds of black smoke were billowing out across the houses and the beach.

When the smoke first appeared I wondered if it was a garden bonfire as it was too close to be from the fields but then the volume increasd dramatically.

Here I'll jump ahead in the story and can say from everything that has been said on the local FB page thankfully nobody has been hurt in what has turned out to be a major fire. 

I'd carried on walking along the beach until I was level with the fire and then cut through to the High Street where it was clear that the fire was at the back of one of the houses on the far side of the road. At that point the Fire Services hadn't turned up, black smoke was engulfing the back of the house with a lot of cracking and the occasional explosion and flames leaping into the air. There were a lot of people out in the street but nothing like the numbers there would have been last weekend. Luckily it wasn't too long before the first fire engine turned up.

In the above photo the flames are climbing up one of the telegraph poles carrying electrical wires across the railway track. I took this photo just after a train had passed along the track. Not sure if that was the safest move by the train driver. From the FB comments it seems the fire began as a bonfire in the back garden which got out of hand aided by the strong winds.

Once the fire engines began to turn up I went back to the beach and walked home stopping a couple of times to chat with people.

Back home it took at least another 45 minutes before the black smoke turned to white indicating that the fire was under control. Standing out on the terrace I saw two more fire engines and several other fire vehicles arrive to deal with the fire. The amount of black smoke was surprising, possibly the oil (kerosene) from a central heating oil tank perhaps or as there is a chip/burger van kept out in the front of the house maybe stored cooking oil or propane tanks. After I took the last photo the smoke started to turn black again which wasn't a good sign but now an hour later the smoke is white and much reduced. There's a crowd of people standing on the beach who I'm assuming are the residents of the houses backing on to the beach across the road from the burning house. With the houses being jammed close to each other with no front gardens and the road very narrow there would have been the real danger of the fire spreading. All this happened two doors down from the pub that Peter goes to.

 

8.00 A still from a video that was taken as the train went past. Shows just how bad the fire was right at the start. The smoke is still billowing, mostly white but seems to be coming from a much wider area. Just heard that two chaps were injured by flying glass from exploding windows when they went in to rescue the family's six dogs.

Cool Morning, Sunny Afternoon.

The day began cool, grey and gloomy. Every conversation I had with strangers began with comments about the end of summer and how cold it was. Then, mid-afternoon the clouds began to clear and it became beautifully warm.

This morning I had to walk down to the surgery for an ECG. Everything came up normal which is good to know. I don't know if it is the Welsh NHS in general or our surgery in particular but we seem to be getting a lot better service than we ever did in Devon, more thorough health checks and quicker appointments too. The nurse today asked lots of questions and although they have my electronic records from Devon it was helpful that I had copies of all the letters from the Devon hospital to my GP. 

The smaller bolts haven't arrived yet so when I got home Peter put up the hose reel we'd brought with us. It was only recently that I came across the labelled bag with all the fittings in a box of my gardening stuff in the garage. The hose reaches all the way to the end of the back garden so now I don't have to keep filling up watering cans. I'd wiped down the hose before we moved but when I unwound it I found it mouldy once more so I left it unwound until I can wash it again.

Peter has been peering into an empty biscuit tub for the last few evenings, shop bought just aren't the same, so today I baked the usual peanut butter and chocolate cookies. That should keep him happy for a while.

It was only when I looked through these photos taken in our tiny wildlife meadow that I realised this is a harlequin ladybird, an invader species. I'll fill in the sightings report form after this.

With the sudden unexpected shift in the weather what else could I do but sit out on the terrace to enjoy the sun and watch the beach fill up again? Several neighbouring families went down en masse with kayaks, boards, small children , grandparents and friends.

Didn't finish posting before supper so can now include tonight's sunset though of course to the naked eye the sun and its reflection were the deepest red.

 

Zoo Day.

Cloudy and moderately cool today. Working at the zoo I was plagued by midge bites. I've often been bitten by mozzies, horse flies and yes cat fleas but I can't remember midges being a problem before. Not up in the Exmoor hills but the zoo is built on an old marsh by a river. For those not in the know midges are invisible but deliver a bite like a fine needle being stuck into the skin.They bothered me at the time but although most bites bother me for weeks even with antihistamine cream I'm not feeling anything at all now. 

Today I cleared the whole of the area behind the barrier from weeds. Luckily my legs are just long enough for me to step over the barrier and I didn't need to ask anyone to unlock a gate. While I was in there a mum came to ask if I could rescue her toddler's soft toy, a Minnie Mouse, which had fallen in the goat enclsure. This I was able to reach with my long handled trowel before any of the goats decided to eat it. It was easy to pull up most of the weeds as they were growing in a layer of woodchips over old carpet. However it will be an ongoing job as most of the weeds had gone to seed and quite a few had grown down through the carpet. Before I did this area I'd weeded a narrow strip of gravel just out of sight on the left of the photo. This ran along the outside of a pen with two ferrets in. Every now and again one would come out and put her nose to the wire to check what I was doing. 

Sadly one of the peachicks died in the night. The reason isn't known but apparently it felt very light compared to the other peachicks. Let's hope that it wasn't something contagious.

For the last few weeks work had been going on to extend the wolf-dog run into what was the wallabies' pen as they've had to be taken away from public view. Before I went home I was asked to weed the entry into one of the adjoining pens. This is like a two door airlock that all the pens have to prevent any escapes and didn't take long to do. In the above photo the male wolf-dog is very interested in a visitor's young golden retriever that was excited and barking a lot. Unlike most zoos here visitors can bring their dogs in with them. They don't have any contact with the animals and it makes for a friendlier atmosphere plus dogs aren't being left to overheat in cars.

Once I was home from the zoo there was time for a shower before I went with Peter to town. The next step for his AF treatment is to see a consultant and yesterday he had a phonecall asking would he be able to come for an echocardiogram today as they'd just had a cancellation. That was a yes and we did the same as before, we drove to the hospital, he got out and I then drove down to Lidl's car park. I did the shopping and then visited a health food shop that was full of lovely produce and smells. The kind of place where goods are displayed in old wooden boxes and lots of things are in bulk containers that you help yourself to. But it was all very expensive and they were out of the oat bran I was looking for. We've had to get used to gaps on the shelves in the supermarkets as there is currently a national shortage of lorry drivers due to Brexit. So many of our lorry drivers as well as fruit and vegetable workers came from Europe. Peter's echocardiogram went smoothly and apparently the AF is nothing to be concerned about. He'll find out more when he sees the consultant.