Mostly Grey.

The morning and most of the rest of the day was grey and often wet. Right now, late afternoon, the sun is breaking through making me feel quite warm and causing me to squint to see the screen. 

It's supposed to be dry tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to stain the top deck without fear of rain. I did go out and check the decking and luckily, considering it was beginning to rain as I finished, it all looks fine. I'll need another tin for the rest of the decking. I got the last tin of that colour off the shelf in B&Q but hopefully they'll get some more soon. I have to say that my back didn't feel too good after yesterday's painting so I'll have to try and pace myself better. This morning I woke before 5.00 and was up doing my exercises at 6.00.

This afternoon I amused myself by looking through all my Borth photos and thought I'd post this sunset from last July. I like the way the kayakers and rowing club members also stopped to watch the sunset. There are a couple of benches up on the clifftop and people often sit there to watch the sun go down over the sea.

The latest corona news - there's now a separate pod/ testing unit up at our local hospital. Up to this morning they had tested 300 people who all came back all clear. The Post Office have posted on FB that if a postman/lady has to knock on your door to hand over a parcel that is too big or needs signing for (we don't have mail boxes in the UK.) they will knock, put the parcel down and stand back 2m which is the 'safe' distance and if needed they will sign the hand held gadget. Advice from on high seems to be changing daily. This morning on the radio they said anyone over 70 or with a pre-existing medical condition should self isolate for 2 months! Not sure how that will work. I'm sure that if we were self-isolating going out for walks on the beach or cliffs would be perfectly safe so long as we didn't come close to other people.

Grey.

A grey day, wet in the morning and threatening to rain in the afternoon.

We were up in time to get the house ready for the viewing. Decluttering done and the house beautifully tidy we waited, and waited and waited.  All in vain as it became clear that the viewing was a no show. That is annoying.

As the weather oracle aka Peter assured me the rain would hold off I swept and then stained the top deck. I bought a quick drying stain that's supposed to be rain dry in two hours. There's already a light drizzle so I'm not sure how that will affect it. The very wet winter had stripped last year's satin off a large part of the boards. It's going to need a second and maybe a third coat to make it look presentable again. Before I started the recycled decking looked bad enough to give the impression that it needs replacing immediately.

 The other untreated decks.

The effect of Corona virus both here and abroad is filling the radio with the news getting worse each day. It's hard to know what to do for the best. Are we in the at risk group because of our age or should we hope to catch it, recover and then have immunity? Peter did get his pneumonia vaccination but it's not effective against Corona. It seems that our government is trying to spread out the time people get ill as the numbers of hospital beds of any sort, doctors and nurses have been drastically reduced in the last 10 years when we've had a Conservative government who have little concern for 'ordinary' ie not privileged folk. In the meantime supermarket shelves are emptying, from yesterday's gaps it looks like people are going to live on pasta with home-made sauces. (No pasta at all and hardly any tins of tomatoes left.) 

Damp.

It's been a grey day with rain beginning as I returned home from shopping which put paid to hanging out some washing and giving the decking a first coat of stain which is 'rain' ready in 2 hours.

Before I went off shopping I hoovered the house ready for tomorrow's viewing. I'm trying not to panic buy but I did stock up on chocolate at Lidl as I had those vouchers. All I'm doing re shopping is making sure that we have enough basics to cover the 14 day self isolation period. Of course there is always the option of on-line ordering from the major supermarkets. Right now they're saying that the peak of the virus will be in about 10 weeks. You never know we might actually be in Borth by then.

I bought a couple of trays of reduced primulas at B&Q along with some decking stain and a pack of cheery violas at BJ's which I popped in with the cyclamen in the basket. I couldn't fit all the primulas in the tub as there are perennials coming up in there as well. I took the rest to the back garden and somehow Speedy must have slipped out. It was only when I wondered where he was that I saw him sitting on the decking wailing at me to be let back in out of the cold and damp. 

Speedy will have a new cone tonight. The current one is grubby and frayed and with no end in sight yet a new one was needed. One leg is fully healed but the other got caught on something, possibly the plastic clips on the cone, and still needs to heal. I asked Peter to get a new cone when he last went out which he did but they only had the biggest and the smallest sizes. He bought the smallest size which was too small so I ordered one on-line to pick up in the shop and returned the smaller one today. While I ironed the washing dry Speedy had fun lying in the empty laundry basket batting a bottle top and some cat toys around. I bought him some crinkle balls today which he is enjoying. Because his line of sight is limited by the cone it helps having something that makes a noise.

Chilly.

A windy cold day, lots of sun and the occasional short sharp shower.

It was stormy last night and as I walked to town the local park was more of a water park.

This park lies within a loop of a small tidal river and the lower banks on the park side are designed to empty water into the park. By the time I returned on my way home about half the water had drained away though the seagulls were still swimming on the flooded grass.

My trip to town included a visit to the bank to pay a bill. I also needed to buy a thermometer for our first aid kit. We used to have two but when I checked recently the plain glass one had lost all of the red stuff (alcohol?) and the digital thermometer dated back to when the boys were babies and though numbers would come up it had lost its beep and I'm sure it was past its best. The thermometer shelves looked sparse with mainly the expensive poke-in-the-ear type but I found the last digital thermometer in Boots for £11. The main spaces on the shelves were where gel hand wash, hand soap and over the counter pain killers should have been. One thing we're not short of in this house is a supply of pain killers. I checked out the charity shops and found a couple of storage boxes that match some I already have. I found a nice big mug, blue with stars but I was priced at £3.50 so I put it back. 

My doctor phoned just before 7.00 last night. What a long working day she had. We had a chat and she suggested doubling  one of my tablets and that has done the job. No more waking every hour and a quarter.

I'll give the whole place a hoover tomorrow for the viewing and today the bathroom got a thorough clean. 

Windy.

It's been a very windy day and it felt quite warm in the sun as I hung out the washing. I don't think my neighbours' daughter would agree, she flew home from Bali yesterday and is still adjusting to the time and temperature differences.

I've had a bit of a fidgety day in that I've spent most of the day waiting for a phone appointment with my doctor. When I rang yesterday I was told that it would probably be between 11am and 1pm but not necessarily. I expect that I've been moved to after her afternoon surgery, if that makes sense. I'm not annoyed as the doctors work flat out anyway and with the panic due to corona virus no doubt things are even more hectic. It's just a drawback to not having a mobile, I mean I do have a dumb phone but I don't give out the number and rely on the house phone which is usually fine. I grew up without any phone and even now I'm not likely to ring someone for a chat. I do find it a little uncomfortable talking to people when I can't read their faces. Today there was extra pressure in that I'd agreed to collect the sewing machine just before 5pm. Luckily Peter has gone to get it for me instead. The one time the phone did ring it was the estate agent booking a viewing for Saturday morning.

I began looking through last year's photos to pick out some for a photo book. So far I'm not overwhelmed but we did go on some nice walks so I'll continue and decide later. One book I will want to make will be of the restoration of Red Roofs. I think there's a way to go yet. 

Saw this on FB and thought Speedy would agree.

Remember my complaining to Lidl about the deceptive packaging of some Christmas marzipan chocolates? I was satisfied with letting them know what I felt so it was a very nice surprise to get these vouchers as an apology. Might have to stock on more chocolate.

Wet.

A stormy day today with lots of rain and plenty of wind.

I get such pleasure looking through my photos that I thought I might make some more photo books, probably one for each year starting with 2019 until I either get fed up or run out of cash. I had a pleasant afternoon writing out a list of the key events of each month in 2019. Next is to go through my photo files picking out the best ones for the book. However when it rains my PC has a go slow which is a bit confusing as our Broadband signal is fibre almost to the house and all my files are stored on the hard drive not up in the cloud or anywhere else. I shall leave it for another day before happily browsing through photo files.

Good or at least hopeful news re my sewing machine. I'll need it once we move for altering/ making curtains and maybe some cushions and things. Having failed dismally to get it working with a generic foot pedal wired in I thought I'd best find somewhere that mends them. When I asked on FB somebody recommended a place in Bideford (10 miles away) so I went on-line to find their contact details. Imagine my surprise when another name popped up only a couple of streets away. I rang him this morning and he thought he knew what the problem was and would be able to fix it. He's an older gentleman who usually comes to the customer but he had a hip replacement a month ago so I popped my very heavy sewing machine in the car and drove it over to him. It would be such a relief to have the machine working again. I only need it for basic sewing so buying a new one would be wasteful. 

Speedy's latest mission is to gain entry to our bedroom. A couple of times he's pushed the door open and I've found him ensconced on the duvet. While we used to have the cats sleeping on the bed before the boys came along I then became a bit more concerned about germs and bedrooms were off limits. (Romas used to sneak them into his room when he was younger.) This morning I was awake early after a not very good sleep so along with a large mug of tea I made myself a slice of black rye bread with some apricot jam, (no butter 'cos I'm on a diet). These I took up to the bedroom and then went down to clear something up not noticing that the bedroom door was open. I let Speedy out of the kitchen so it was my own fault that he went into the bedroom. I wasn't happy when I found him munching on some of the bread and as I didn't know if he'd licked or trodden on the rest the whole lot had to go. I didn't bother to make another slice of bread as I just wanted to drink my tea. That saved a few calories. (I don't really count calories.)

Looking on-line to find possible causes for various symptoms, maybe not a good idea though I cross check everything with stuff published by the NHS or nih.gov, one cause that might have applied was low blood sugar in the mornings. That turned out not to be the case but it also said low blood sugar can trigger headaches. Eating a small amount of chocolate or bread and jam first thing does seem to have got rid of the headaches which I was getting every day. The only problem was my very low resistance and I ended up eating most all of the chocolate. So now Peter has charge of the packet of individual chocolate sticks and he gives me enough for each morning. He would hand over all if I asked but keeping the chocolate at arms length so to speak makes it easier to resist. 

Wet.

A very wet and grey day today. It's been a day for sorting out building issues. First Peter had to hunt for red roof tiles. Our builder had been unable to source any locally as we only need about 30 for some of the roof repairs not a whole pallet load. That's what happens when yours is the only house is the village with a red roof in a country where having slate quarries means that slates have been used for roofing since Roman times. Cheaper grey concrete tiles being substituted in more modern times. Peter managed to find a supplier in Swansea, only 80 miles from Borth and he's ordering enough for the front door porch and future repairs as red tiles are so hard to find. 

The bigger issue/problem is that the building inspector came to okay the work changing the bay window to French doors and it's a no go. The 6ft deep bay window is an add-on to the original house and its foundations will not take the weight of all the double glazing and steel beam needed for the new layout. To make it comply with current regulations either the whole of the underneath structure will need either new footings or complete replacement. Peter's going to ask for a rough guestimates of the cost for either of those options but they are bound to be very expensive.

The plan had been to buy a couple of chairs like the one below so that even in bad weather we could sit and enjoy the view.

The more practical option is to lose the bay window altogether and have the French doors back on the original outer wall. The sitting room isn't that big and I had the furniture layout sorted but without the bay that'll all have to change. (I don't like change.) However if the building inspector says the terrace plus where the bay window is is safe enough as a terrace that'll save on not having to extend the current terrace out into the garden.