Stormy.

The weather changed suddenly last night with a severe squall  making it hard to even open the door and once I did (to call Speedy in) I had to shut it quickly to avoid getting soaked. By morning the rain was beginning to die down but the wind which was gusting up to 55 mph according to Peter's anemometer had churned the whole bay into a mess of white caps as far as the eye could see. By the afternoon (middle photo) a few patches of blue were beginning to appear and by 5.00 (bottom photo) we were back to blue skies.

Having walked out of the Post Office in town on Monday because of the long queue being served by a single chatty lady I had to brave the wind this morning to send some cards at the Post Officve counter in the local shop. Getting there was fine as the wind blew me down the road but it was a bit harder walking back. I didn't go for a beach walk, well only a tiny one from the Lifeboat Station and I also stopped by the rowing club's boat in the boat park to do my best to secure the cover which was working loose.

Back home I turned on my PC to prepare for our Zoom class and DISASTER! It opened up with something different. I made the mistake of choosing my old user name and after declining many cookies, I found that that I had lost all my internet links. I couldn't log in to my emails because the password I had in my 'Book of important information' didn't work which is probably due to me not writing down the new one and then when I went to change my password it turned out that because I hadn't made any phone calls for a long time my phone had been disconnected. I think I only use my phone when I change passwords which is text and doesn't count. Aargh! Now I'll have to get a new phone and change my number on all the verification details I have or try and get the old number unlocked. Luckily Peter had a pen-drive with my favourites saved from the last PC change and I was able to get into my emails and from there into the Zoom class. After the class I turned off my PC for a couple of hours to 'give it time to reflect on its bad behaviour'. When I turned it back on I was able to see how to change back to being 'Customer' and return to normal usage. I still need to find out or change my email password and sort out the phone issue.

Our numbers were depleted in the Zoom class with some members having covid but we had a good lesson. The latest anomaly is the way numbers 2, 3 & 4 are different if the following noun is femminine. Some of the soft mutations, where the initial letter changes, occur after some vowels/ words and sometimes only happen if the following noun is femminine but not if it is masculine. Such a lot to remember.

After class I painted the wood and fittings again, pedalled and dug out my weights, just 1kg, to do some arm exercises as I'm losing a lot of muscle in my arms and legs due to lack of exercise and the diet. Peter is getting concerned that I'm losing too much weight even though I'm still at the higher end of normal BMI according to the NHS calculator, and am two and a half stone above the under-weight mark for my age and diminshed height. I'm pedalling twice a day and will see which of my physio exercises I can do without aggrivating my ribs or back.

I finished off my day with washing the salt off the windows as they were hazy after the wild weather. Now I'm looking forward to a cabbage, poatoes and sausage casserole that Peter is making in the slow cooker. When I say sausage that's Polish sausage-from Lidl and Lithuanian sausage - from Lithuania. Real comfort food, perfect for this wild weather.

 

Windy.

The day began with steady rain. I was waiting for it to turn drier before going to the zoo when instead it increased to deluge proportions. That lasted about 30 minutes as predicted and then  it quickly dried up. I was able to leave an hour later having done and sent my Welsh homework and done some Duolingo and for the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon we were back to blue skies. The clouds began to return later in the afternoon but so far there hasn't been any rain. (Must go and get my work trousers from the washing line.) 

As I was about to put out the recycling our neighbour rang the doorbell asking if we had any drain rods he could borrow. Peter offered to help but he just wanted the rods. 

Once at the zoo I used my trusty bow saw to prune back several years worth of growth from a large buddelia bush and then settled into removing weeds from one of the gravelled areas. I finished with coffee and chatting to the other people who help at the zoo. One of them recalled chatting to me in the garden when he'd been helping out our neighbours and he told me that today's drain problem had turned out to be the main drain in the road which is the water board's responsibility. I'm slowly slipping into village life where everyone knows what's going on.

There were more families visiting the zoo today and I had to smile at a pair of sisters getting very excited at seeing the peacocks. One of the girls kept trying to get Mr P. to open his tail which he wouldn't even though he was happy to go to the barrier to accept food. Later just as that family were leaving Mr P. went into display mode and I was able to call the girls over so they could admire him with much excited shrieking.

Back home I watched the waves while pedalling then got on with my kitchen shelves project. Today I painted some metal fittings and then cut 12 , plus 2 extra, bits of wood for the shelf supports. As I sawed I mused on how much quicker and neater it would be if I had a chop saw instead of a not quite the right hand saw but I'm used to making do. Only to have Peter tell me later that he has recently bought a chop saw. But then again, having the equipment is not the same as setting it up and using it. At least now the wood has been cut, sanded and painted.

We'd lost the sun by the time I did my second set of pedalling but this didn't deter the windsurfers and a couple of experienced surfers.

 

Grey.

It's been mostly dry today with more variation in the shades of grey in the view. It also hasn't been so cold. The weather forecast is talking of snow in Scotland with milder air pushing in, more rain I think for tomorrow. 

I bit the bullet and went shopping today. I'd much rather stay home and let Peter go but not only is it not fair on Peter but I had a couple of other things to get as well. Lidl has now moved back across the car park to their new and much bigger premises. Best of all the main car park is now open though you only get two hours of free parking. Inside the shop the shelves were better stocked and with the layout staying the same it was easy to get the shopping done. Nice to note that I can understand more of the Welsh announcements over the tannoy system. I treated myself to a small marzipan egg for Easter and I'm convinced they are smaller than last year. 

On a quick spin around the other shops I found myself this ball of chenille 'wool' in one of the charity shops. I was looking for something fun to knit a woolly jacket for my cup to keep my drink warm when I sit outside. We had those insulated cups but I find the plastic makes tea taste funny. The chenille is very chunky and I ended up using my largest needles on the test piece. Then I spotted some instructions inside the label showing how to knit using only one strand of the net structure to make ruffles for a scarf. My version is more like a bath mat but I think it will do for my cup. On my way back I called in at a builders' merchant to buy a length of planed wood to make the shelf supports for the last kitchen open fronted cupboard. We've given up waiting for someone to make it for us and will do our best to do it ourselves. That at least will save money.

 

Wet.

Rain all day long. The view has been of a grey sky merging into choppy grey seas. Not very warm either. In the days before energy prices rose by 50% or more for heating oil, we would have not thought twice about turning the heating up to 20C to make things cosy but now extra jumpers go on first. For us it's a matter of choice but for so many people heating has just become unaffordable. I simply don't understand how the energy companies are being allowed to make record amounts, it's nothing more than profiteering. I can only assume that the people who run this country have shares in these companies and we know they have no empathy for the ordinary folk of this country.

It certainly hasn't been a day for working outside. Instead I did all the usual routine, Welsh including this week's homework, two lots of exercise biking and the piano. The only thing I didn't do was guitar pratice. Then I tackled some small tidying up and sorting jobs in the utility room and my study. The result, tidier rooms and one less box lurking about.

There hasn't even been much to see outside, just a few dog walkers and some hardy families exercising the children by walking them up the hill. I guess if you've come for a holiday in one of the caravan parks it's either spend money in the on-site facilities or venture out for a walk. 

Friday's beach walk.

Walking along the edge of the waves last Friday I came across these two jelly-like blobs on the wet sand. They were about 1.5cms long and had a green hue and I had never seen anything like them before. An on-line search for 'green jelly blobs on beach' identified them as the egg masses of Eulalia viridis, a bright green marine worm up to 15 cms long that lives under seaweed.

Eulalia viridis (photo from the net).

Sunny.

Horrible stories of atrocities in Ukraine. No different to those from other wars around the world. What is it in human nature that allows men to behave like this? All we can do is pray for an end to each and every war in this sad world.

Here it has not been too windy but still quite cold. In the sun and out of the wind it has been quite pleasant to sit outside.

After our leisurely breakfast and The Archers my first job was to sort out the satellite dish cable that hangs down over the kitchen window. Or it would have been if the cable clips I had were the right size. Never mind, Peter has ordered me the right clips and I'll deal with the cable once they arrive.

Instead I got on with my boot refurbishment. The first part was the most awkward, blanket stitching around the rim of cut off slippers attached to the new soles. That tidied up the cut edge and gave an easier edge to stitch the sheepskin tops to.

Then I took a break to make what I am calling a half an half cake. Peter had run out of cake and being mindful of all the energy saving advice on consumer programmes and the blogs I read I thought I'd bake two cakes at the same time. However I discovered we only had five eggs which even with my relaxed attitude to quantities when baking wasn't enough for two full sized cakes. So I made a smaller amount of basic cake mixture, added cocoa and chocolate to one half and apple and spices to the other. Then I put both mixes in a large ring mould to bake and voila! we have a half an half cake. Frozen in sections it should last quite a while.

Once the cake was in the oven the sun had reached the terrace and I was able to sit out, well wrapped up, and finish off the boots. Now my toes and ankles will be toastily warm in the evenings.

Wet.

Today has been cold with steady light to moderate rain and a little sun later in the afternoon.

The sea has been flat all day but these two SUPs were the only people I saw out on the water. Even the proposed row was cancelled due to lack of interest.

My ribs have been playing up again, (I think I need to lighten the bucket and carry fewer pebbles from the front to the back garden.) So today I planned a quiet day and began preparing my sheepskin boot slippers for new soles. I've removed the old soles which had started to fall apart inside and cut the soles off a pair of slippers I bought in town last week. I could do with something warm around my ankles to ward off the cold. Best get sewing. I also biked twice, did some DuoLingo and vocabulary work too.

Now for some more photos of the wonderful 600 year old building we had our coffee in yesterday.

The stairs leading off from the entrance hall.

Go up the stairs and as you turn to take the second flight you will find your hand resting on the head of this monster.

Stop for a moment and look to your left to see this unusual internal arch.

The stairs lead you up to another large hall.

Look out of the window on the left to see more medieval buildings.

Or look back down the hall to see another archway and if you need it (we did) the ty bach (little house/toilet) is beyond the open door on the right.

Back down in the street there are a pair of magnificent gates guarding the archway leading to the entrance door on the right. I couldn't get them fully in the frame without stepping back out into the road which wouldn't have been that safe.

Heard yesterday that Sally is recovering from her bout of covid and not surprisingly Vytas has now tested positive. Let's hope he makes a speedy recovery too.

 

Machynlleth.

Cold again today but not as windy as yesterday. We turn the thermostat down to 16C at night which is apparently more economical than turning it off and then back on for an hour in the morning and I could hear it kicking in every hour (didn't sleep well last night). The insulation traps the heat and we don't need the heating in the day until the evening.

We've had another day out today. This time to Machynlleth [Google pronunciation - muh-kuhnth-leth], to meet up with two of our Welsh language class members for coffee. It was great to have time to get to know each other better and we discovered that we all had similar experiences of selling up and moving to Wales.

We met up in the car park where we paid the princely sum of £1 to park all day in the bowling club car park and had a conversation in Welsh with the lady who took our money. From there we went to a cosy cafe in the Canolfan Owain Glyndwr (the half-timbered building) a late medieval town house built around 1460 on the site where Owain Glyndwr called a parliament in 1404 and was proclaimed Prince of Wales. That didn't end well. The architecture inside is amazing and I'll post the photos tomorrow. 

We found ourselves a couple of sofas by a roaring wood stove, ordered coffee and cake for me and coffee and a bacon sandwich for Peter in our halting Welsh but we did it and then had a very amaible time chatting away.  

Eventually Peter began muttering about things to do back home (he knew I wanted a wander around the town first), so we bade farewell to our companions and ventured out to explore. It was bitterly cold in the shade but quite nice in the sun. Our first diversion was to a decent hardware store, lots of useful stuff and it was the sort of place where you could buy single items, screws, bolts that sort of thing. Even Peter agreed that it was a great place to know about.

We walked down as far as the Victorian clock tower window shopping as we passed a number of quirky shops which I imagine cater for well off alternative/eco/arty people. Shops selling weird antiques, crystals, whole foods and alternative remedies. I'm definitely going to make time for a proper explore of the town, maybe when it isn't quite so cold.

The lady in this shop below makes hand-made shoes and boots. I'd found her on-line and had decided to have a pair of ankle boots made for my large feet which are extra wide at the toes instead of buying a hand-pan as I've found it almost impossible to find shoes that fit. I had to put that plan on hold for the time being as I've developed a ganglion cyst on the side of my toe and I don't know how big it is going to get. 

This shop had a fantastic selection of quality greetings cards and many other 'shiny things' I would be quite happy to be given (as I hinted clearly) and I haven't found its equivalent in Aber.

The stuff in the charity shop we went into was pretty good too and for £1.50 I got seven different silicone mould trays each for fifteen chocolates some of which should be fine for my truffles.

I finally took pity on Peter who was turning into a block of ice, so he said and after a quick spin around the Co-Op for milk and plasters we drove home.

Back home the bright sun tempted me out for a walk along the beach.

It was a extra low, low tide so I walked along under the cliffs peering into the crystal clear but no doubt very cold rock pools. I walked out as far as the War Memorial before retracing my steps along the water's edge back to the reef and then home.