6.45    Alarm call as it is Grocery day.  This has become one of my high lights of the week, how pathetic is that?  But as I often add after such a remark, I doubt I am alone in that at the moment.

I had a bit of excitement at the weekend.  I spent some time with my eldest grand son who is eight, his Mum dropped him over and  we set out to the woods for a dam clearing operation, starting off with walking Audrey’s energy off and my grandson’s pleading to swing on a rather unsafe looking rope swing comprising of a rather spent looking rope and what didn’t amount to much more than a twig for hanging on to. It also swings out over some water so if he fell it would just be a bit wet and muddy. Surprisingly, I am more relaxed about letting the kids have their

heads in such circumstances these days, you’d think it would be the other way around but the swinging went fine with no mishap.

Finally we arrive at the stream where a huge dam has built up with logs, twigs and leaves since the torrential rains the other week.  I tell Bill that we are lucky that the water is so much shallower than it was a week ago at which point I slip, gracefully, I hope, down the muddy bank on my backside and Bill walks into the apparently shallow water which tips over the top of his boots and fills them right up.   Not the best of starts, we have a short discussion as to whether to carry on or leave it and we decide to carry on, so a joyous time follows at the end of which we have made a central channel and the water starts to gush through.  Job well done and not one complaint about soaking wet socks in boots and we go and sit on some relatively dry leaves to drink our water and eat bananas while we watch the water speeding by.  This might not be everyone’s idea of passing the time but we loved it.

12.30   My son has signed out from Lifeboat duty for a couple of hours and meets me for a walk on the nature reserve as you come down to Earwig corner just before Lewes ( I would love to know