I went to put rubbish in my wheelie bin this morning and found a man in a short dressing gown, with a towel draped over his shoulder, standing in my driveway. He seemed startled to see me, smiled nervously and said "Fergus" before hastening away.
He seems to be my neighbour across the road and three down's new boyfriend, and my best guess is that Fergus the ginger cat was menacing across-the-road-and-three-down's cat Violet. I think he leapt out of bed / out of the shower to intervene, and chased Fergus into my garden.
I'd rather not have Fergus in my garden either, as my cat, Elizabeth, doesn't like him. But I think that my neighbour has found herself a keeper. Any man prepared to run around the neighbourhood barely dressed on a quest involving a cat has to be a good 'un.
One of those mornings when we had about a month's worth of rain fall in an hour. However it seems to have faired now. Have a friend coming for coffee tomorrow, so will leave going for an exploratory squelch until then. I expect everything will be either flattened or above head height (if a weed).
Finally tackled some sewing and found myself crack-handed from lack of practice (three goes at a simple pin tuck), but eventually ended up with successfully altered trousers.
Some sunshine and (comparative) warmth here, in between longer periods of rain and coolth. They keep threatening us with thunderstorms, but none have occurred so far today...
I'm just thankful that Arkland has not yet experienced any of the ghastly extremes found elsewhere in the country, or, indeed, in the world. The scenes on the news of Athens being virtually surrounded by fires were horrifying.
The local news only gives us - the local Covid rates. That show Brighton as a hotspot for this area - but I do occasionally see a bit on social media about rates in the North East, which puts it more in perspective.
You are right about the younger urban population in Brighton being a factor, as is the popularity of Brighton as a partying centre for much of the south east generally, which brings in many more.
Brighton Pride was cancelled again this year,but as most of the hotels were already fully booked for the week the streets and clubs would be full, even if official events are cancelled.
It's not lack of warmth that's the problem (to my mind anyway) - it's a perfectly civilised 18-19°. It's just, as Firenze described, so chuffing wet.
It chucked it down for a good bit of the afternoon, and I was on the verge of getting a taxi to Haymarket rather than get soaked waiting for the bus, when it eased off just enough that I got to the stop with a shelter without actually drowning.
I then popped into M&S and bought a truly ghastly umbrella; the only ones they had left were orange (my most unfavourite colour) with red and white spots. I hate carrying umbrellas; they're just one more thing to faff about with along with masks, handbags, lunch bags and whatnot, but they are marginally preferable to getting drenched.
With any luck it'll cause a manifestation of Piglet's Umbrella Principle, i.e. if you have one, you won't need it. The sky is already a rather pleasant blue in places ...
Supper, for anyone who's interested, was Piglet's Pancetta Pasta.
I hate carrying umbrellas; they're just one more thing to faff about with along with masks, handbags, lunch bags and whatnot, but they are marginally preferable to getting drenched.
This is why I insist that every outdoor garment that I buy has a hood.
Having had some pretty foul weather so far the chaps are trying to persuade me we should sail down to the Azores. At the moment they're looking at Covid regulations to see if it's feasible ... 😮
So glad your parents got there @la vie en rouge . I hope you all have a wonderful time. @TheOrganist , your sailing trip seems to be turning into an adventure, the Azores would be lovely though.
It's been wet in patches here the last couple of days. I got drenched on Sunday when we went out for a walk, theoretically between showers, and got the timing wrong. My lightweight trainers look a sorry sight. Yesterday it was mainly overcast without too much rain, and I avoided it when I went out. Today is supposedly dry, but doesn't look too great at the moment.
I too am not keen on umbrellas @piglet, but needs must.
I wear hats for my daily walks from autumn to spring.
We walked about 6-7 miles yesterday, from the marina to Brighton, around town then back again. Not sure of the plans today. We could do some proper hill walking in the Downs as rain isn’t predicted - no-one else is up yet to decide.
Hurrah! The parents have landed! My Dad was a bit emotional and pretending not to be, in true British style.
I can picture it. Lovely! Have a wonderful time together.
I gave up on umbrellas years ago as I always either lose them or break them. I buy coats with hoods against the rain; of course one needs a coat that goes to the floor to protect the whole body, or waterproof trousers as well, and I haven't got either of those. Yes, in a downpour my legs are drenched.
Sunshine this morning and I've been busy doing some baking and washing the kitchen floor (having got to the point of thinking "When did I last wash this floor?") and generally buzzing about. I'm out for lunch with friends, seeing other friends for afternoon tea and out with Mr Nen for a meal with friends this evening.
Friend in from the sticks for a upmarket haircut, so we spent an hour or so in town, despising the expensive clothes shops in the new St James Centre ('no making on them' as my mother would say). Then sitting on a bench, people watching.
Warm and sunny but with that indefinable edge of autumn.
It is far too hot in my bedroom, but even so I have managed to rustle up enough energy to move things so I can get up to the curtain rail and apply superglue to fix the widgets to the wall fittings. I then had to press them back on to the rail, which they decided to separate from. One in particular, under tension from the curve has been reluctant, and part of the rail is pressing against the wall over the window, so there's no chance of hanging the curtain yet. Tomorrow morning I will try to ease it along a bit so I can finish the job, but I don't entirely trust the glue. It's stuck my fingers OK...
Standing in full sun has me sweating buckets.
.
Warm and sunny but with that indefinable edge of autumn.
Walking along Princes Street this afternoon, I wasn't feeling at all autumnal, although the air that's coming in the window beside me just now has the beginnings of an edge to it.
It'll be nice having cooler overnight temperatures; it seems to make all the difference to my overall wellbeing if it cools down decently at night.
In a fit of can't-be-botheredness*, supper was beans on TOAST.
* Actually, it could have been genuine tiredness: having woken up shortly after 4 this morning and failed to get back to sleep, I found myself almost needing matchsticks to keep my eyes open at work this afternoon.
@Piglet - Any news from the 'In Bloom' competition you mentioned upthread? Wasn't that today, Tuesday? Or will the results only been known later? - We bloomin' well must know!
The weather here was the nicest its been for a while, so we went for a walk this afternoon. It's one I've been intending to do for a while, a circular walk around a nearby village. It turned out to be rather longer than I expected, partly because we decided to walk to the start of it. It was good though, and we now know a bit more about our local area and have found a pub that looks worth returning to.
A lovely day here, we spent the afternoon walking round Devil’s Dyke, followed by a family Super Smash Bros tournament which I consistently lost as I am useless at video games. We then went to the local bar for fish and ships and beer.
We’re having a day at home today. Husband is in a board meeting this morning and older son has a work meeting this evening that he wants to attend so he stays in the loop (husband told son he should take a complete holiday from working but son called him a hypocrite!).
The rail part seems much more recalcitrant about bendiness than it was. As is the left over length that has been lurking in the shade in my study. It is very stiff and dragging on the fittings. I now suspect a loss of plasticity, for which the solution would be to buy a new set, and some more of those screw type plasterboard things so I can use more of the fittings in the gaps between the existing ones. That should keep things going for a few more years until loss of plasticity strikes again, and maybe I can get a better replacement. Drat.
John Lewis have done a nice metal rail in my study, corded, with a curve against the end wall, but a much shorter run over the window.
Meanwhile we are hiding indoors with the air conditioning on. 36° today and getting hotter.
Our paddling pool regrettably has a hole in it, so an expotition will have to be made tomorrow for another one. In the meantime if Captain P wants to play outside I think we'll have to content ourselves with dousing him with the hosepipe
In the meantime if Captain P wants to play outside I think we'll have to content ourselves with dousing him with the hosepipe
My brother and I used to spend days on end in the garden with the hosepipe on a trickle. We'd fill buckets, tip buckets into other buckets, and generally have fun pouring water from one container to another. A year or two later, we were still in the garden, but using the hose and an unused corner of flowerbed to generate a muddy slurry for construction purposes, and the making of mud pies etc.
I've only been to the Isles of Scilly once, and then only for a few hours but really loved it. I'd love to do a bit of swimming there.
Today my best friend came to visit our new house for lunch. She very kindly took me into town afterwards and bought us a housewarming present, a print of the town I'd been lusting after for a while. We ended the afternoon with a large glass of wine overlooking the river in a rather nice pub. All in all a good day.
I did a sailing trip to the Scilly Isles once. It was heavenly - fantastic climate and really interesting sailing as they have great tides! Would do it again in a heartbeat. Enjoy!
@Piglet - Any news from the 'In Bloom' competition you mentioned upthread? Wasn't that today, Tuesday? Or will the results only been known later? - We bloomin' well must know!
There was a post on the Linlithgow Facebook page suggesting it went quite well; they were lucky that the judging happened on the one sunny day we'd had in about a week! When I was walking down to the station at 7 in the morning there was a lady out tidying up some of the flower tubs along the High Street.
I understand the winners won't be announced until some time in September; I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.
Expecting visitors tomorrow - my niece and her husband, plus 'new' baby. Not that new, at 5 months old, but the first time we get to meet him.
He is my only great-nephew, although his mothers 3 brother have managed to give me 5 great-neices between them.
@Piglet - Any news from the 'In Bloom' competition you mentioned upthread? Wasn't that today, Tuesday? Or will the results only been known later? - We bloomin' well must know!
There was a post on the Linlithgow Facebook page suggesting it went quite well; they were lucky that the judging happened on the one sunny day we'd had in about a week! When I was walking down to the station at 7 in the morning there was a lady out tidying up some of the flower tubs along the High Street.
I understand the winners won't be announced until some time in September; I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.
Thank you kindly. As I always say, any place where Piglet dwells is a bloomin' awesome place.
I sympathize with your curtain rail woes, @Penny S . I've just spent several days painting Oldest Son's bedroom, finishing by putting up new curtains. There was a strip of wood that the old rail was attached to, so I thought it would be an easy job, but the wood turned out to be really hard to drill into. I'm not an expert with a drill, either, so I ended up with several holes in the wrong place that I had to redo. But it's up, and I think it's staying put! Hope yours eventually does as it's told, too!
We flew to the Scillys by helicopter from Penzance three times, before the heliport closed (it’s now reopened on a new site) and while I could still get onto the aircraft. The journey was the shortest 20 mins ever! I still remember the patchwork of fields as we flew over West Penwith and the islands spread out as we approached St. Mary’s.
Absolutely wonderful - I’d love to be able to do it again 😢
I spent a lot of time yesterday in looking up a replacement. There seems to be a very promising alternative, but only available from China, so not available on my terms. And I read the reviews of the existing track. Curiously, a number had had similar problems with the rigidity of the track when freshly bought, and one person had got over them with the aid of a hairdryer.
So when I have time to remove all the stuff in the way, extract the extension lead from behind the bookshelves on the landing, and retrieve the hairdryer from the back of the drawer in the wardrobe, I'll have a go with that. Possibly adding the curling tongs as well!
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He seems to be my neighbour across the road and three down's new boyfriend, and my best guess is that Fergus the ginger cat was menacing across-the-road-and-three-down's cat Violet. I think he leapt out of bed / out of the shower to intervene, and chased Fergus into my garden.
I'd rather not have Fergus in my garden either, as my cat, Elizabeth, doesn't like him. But I think that my neighbour has found herself a keeper. Any man prepared to run around the neighbourhood barely dressed on a quest involving a cat has to be a good 'un.
Finally tackled some sewing and found myself crack-handed from lack of practice (three goes at a simple pin tuck), but eventually ended up with successfully altered trousers.
I'm just thankful that Arkland has not yet experienced any of the ghastly extremes found elsewhere in the country, or, indeed, in the world. The scenes on the news of Athens being virtually surrounded by fires were horrifying.
We are approaching the End Times, I fear.
The grass is covered with wasps and the trees are full of birds. It seems very summery, all I lack is an ice cream cone!
You are right about the younger urban population in Brighton being a factor, as is the popularity of Brighton as a partying centre for much of the south east generally, which brings in many more.
Brighton Pride was cancelled again this year,but as most of the hotels were already fully booked for the week the streets and clubs would be full, even if official events are cancelled.
It chucked it down for a good bit of the afternoon, and I was on the verge of getting a taxi to Haymarket rather than get soaked waiting for the bus, when it eased off just enough that I got to the stop with a shelter without actually drowning.
I then popped into M&S and bought a truly ghastly umbrella; the only ones they had left were orange (my most unfavourite colour) with red and white spots. I hate carrying umbrellas; they're just one more thing to faff about with along with masks, handbags, lunch bags and whatnot, but they are marginally preferable to getting drenched.
With any luck it'll cause a manifestation of Piglet's Umbrella Principle, i.e. if you have one, you won't need it. The sky is already a rather pleasant blue in places ...
Supper, for anyone who's interested, was Piglet's Pancetta Pasta.
The South-Western heat has arrived with them. 30° today and rising.
This is why I insist that every outdoor garment that I buy has a hood.
🤣🤣
You could always wear a raincoat/jacket with a hood? Although in my experience the hoods are always vast so perhaps not an improvement.
@TheOrganist , your sailing trip seems to be turning into an adventure, the Azores would be lovely though.
It's been wet in patches here the last couple of days. I got drenched on Sunday when we went out for a walk, theoretically between showers, and got the timing wrong. My lightweight trainers look a sorry sight. Yesterday it was mainly overcast without too much rain, and I avoided it when I went out. Today is supposedly dry, but doesn't look too great at the moment.
I too am not keen on umbrellas @piglet, but needs must.
We walked about 6-7 miles yesterday, from the marina to Brighton, around town then back again. Not sure of the plans today. We could do some proper hill walking in the Downs as rain isn’t predicted - no-one else is up yet to decide.
I gave up on umbrellas years ago as I always either lose them or break them. I buy coats with hoods against the rain; of course one needs a coat that goes to the floor to protect the whole body, or waterproof trousers as well, and I haven't got either of those. Yes, in a downpour my legs are drenched.
Sunshine this morning and I've been busy doing some baking and washing the kitchen floor (having got to the point of thinking "When did I last wash this floor?") and generally buzzing about. I'm out for lunch with friends, seeing other friends for afternoon tea and out with Mr Nen for a meal with friends this evening.
Nen - social butterfly.
I have a few jackets with hoods, but none is a particularly good fit, and they add too much heat to be comfortable; one day I'll find the perfect one!
As it happens, Piglet's Umbrella Principle is working (so far) - it isn't raining, and there are even patches of blue sky!
Famous last words ...
Warm and sunny but with that indefinable edge of autumn.
Standing in full sun has me sweating buckets.
It'll be nice having cooler overnight temperatures; it seems to make all the difference to my overall wellbeing if it cools down decently at night.
In a fit of can't-be-botheredness*, supper was beans on TOAST.
* Actually, it could have been genuine tiredness: having woken up shortly after 4 this morning and failed to get back to sleep, I found myself almost needing matchsticks to keep my eyes open at work this afternoon.
Shome mishtake, shurely?
😂
John Lewis have done a nice metal rail in my study, corded, with a curve against the end wall, but a much shorter run over the window.
(Make sure they're Happy British Fishes, though!).
How absolutely delightful- one of my most favourite places in the whole world! Hope you have fun and good sailing to the next port.
Ah! Welcome! Please do check out my avatar. But then, I say it in jest: I am indeed from the Isles of Silly (note spelling).
What a wonderful trip you're doing there. Have deckloads of fun!
Our paddling pool regrettably has a hole in it, so an expotition will have to be made tomorrow for another one. In the meantime if Captain P wants to play outside I think we'll have to content ourselves with dousing him with the hosepipe
My brother and I used to spend days on end in the garden with the hosepipe on a trickle. We'd fill buckets, tip buckets into other buckets, and generally have fun pouring water from one container to another. A year or two later, we were still in the garden, but using the hose and an unused corner of flowerbed to generate a muddy slurry for construction purposes, and the making of mud pies etc.
Today my best friend came to visit our new house for lunch. She very kindly took me into town afterwards and bought us a housewarming present, a print of the town I'd been lusting after for a while. We ended the afternoon with a large glass of wine overlooking the river in a rather nice pub. All in all a good day.
I understand the winners won't be announced until some time in September; I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.
He is my only great-nephew, although his mothers 3 brother have managed to give me 5 great-neices between them.
Thank you kindly. As I always say, any place where Piglet dwells is a bloomin' awesome place.
Absolutely wonderful - I’d love to be able to do it again 😢
So when I have time to remove all the stuff in the way, extract the extension lead from behind the bookshelves on the landing, and retrieve the hairdryer from the back of the drawer in the wardrobe, I'll have a go with that. Possibly adding the curling tongs as well!