Tuesday 30th June Day 98
7.00 I’m awake because I want to get up early to clean the filter system on the fish pond but given the chance this morning I would really like to get back under the bedcovers and hibernate. It is grey, windy and pouring with rain which somehow, I’m not finding enticing.
8.15 I have on an old fleece jacket and my sunhat! Which today is doubling as a rain hat and I’m just hoping my neighbours aren’t thinking I have completely lost the plot, maybe I have but I noticed last night that the flow of water in the pond is nearly a trickle and those fish have had a rough week already, so the filters have to be done right now. It’s a filthy job, removing all the slurry from the ‘medium’ and the various sponges that make up the system but also very satisfying when it is all cleaned up.
So now still in my sun hat and coat in the rain, I get the hoover from the shed and proceed to hoover all the muck that gets into the waterfall. Thank goodness for a secluded garden! It’s not actually a hoover or the equivalent but it looks like one and again a satisfying job.
After that and soaking wet, I may as well dig up the wild geraniums which grow like weeds in my garden but which a friend would like to put along the top of a bank in her garden. It’s a real tussle to get them out but eventually I succeed.
10.00 I’ve delivered the plants and now back indoors at last and I am starting to feel quite chilly. I want my breakfast and a cup of tea but then it occurs to me that I may as well do the dog walk as I am already wet, not in the sun hat and fleecy though but in a sensible cagoule which I don’t know why I didn’t put on in the first place
10.15 Off out again with Audrey who is impervious to rain or any other weather for that matter and by coincidence we meet with the friend and two little dogs we met yesterday. They all play together and chase each other around so I don’t feel too bad because I’m going to shorten the usual circuit this morning and if Audrey has noticed, she is polite about it and doesn’t make a fuss.
11.20 A very welcome steaming hot cup of coffee and a bowl of porridge!
13.45 A few hiccups with the zoom choir practice as our leader has a power cut in the middle of it but we manage to get back together again. I am really enjoying the choir now that I have got used to it and I am looking forward to hearing when all our voices are put together after we have sent our single recordings.
This is a red-letter week for me because I am actually going to get my hair cut. Amanda my hairdresser text to say that she will be in full PPE although I imagine she was joking to an extent. I go to her house to have my hair cut but even so I feel a little nervous at the prospect. It has been remarkable how most people who are weeks and weeks past their regular haircuts, actually look fine, in fact for many I have thought their hair looks better for a bit of growth but of course next week we will all be like sheep shorn for the summer.
17.00 I am still cold; I’ve been cold all day and am seriously considering lighting a fire tonight. I have a lovely big bunch of sweet peas and honeysuckle that Yvonne brought round for me, in front of the fireplace, such lovely colours and the aroma is intoxicating.