Summer?

Possibly, as this is day 2 without a ground frost. One drawback of retirement is that you don't look forward to weekends in the same way as when the other five days were pretty well tied up. Today I had planned to bite the bullet & play tennis - going alone to fit in with a formed group, admittedly a very friendly & welcoming group, but ...... I had forgotten that we have the Parish Plan training day at Hockley Heath, so tennis defered for another week. Perhaps it will be interesting. The reasons for needing new leadership for the plan is all very political - NIMBYism. It's research & paperwork - not my forte at all & I have no intention of leading it. I had a good shopping experience in Knowle & Solihull yesterday, including coffee & pastry in Pret, for breakfast. Home for a very late lunch & back to Meriden, where there was a bargain brass fender, which we bought for £15, which G has cut down & cleaned, & looks great in the dining room. We have been looking for one for years, on & off. I spent over two hours in the evening, collecting CA envelopes - never as bad as I think as I get to chat with a lot of really nice people. This year far more than usual refused to give, perhaps a reflection of the economic situation or people being more selective about what they give to. I need to pick some lily of the valley to make the house smell nice, before I go out. The bluebells did a sterling job last week, but you have to have the old english, not the cultivated ones, to enjoy the fragrance - the delicate, bendy ones.

Warming up.

There was a ground frost this morning, two degrees at eye level at 6.00am. It has warmed up considerably since then & is pleasant when the sun is out. Church cleaning this week, which took two hours of hard work, mainly due to the junior church & cakes on Sunday morning. I was kept company by the grave diggers - funeral tomorrow. Home for a salad then back to Church end to see the Tealls, Hawkins & Alms Houses residents to ask them if they would have their gardens open on 14 July, to coincide with the grand opening of our new church toilet, church open all day & cream teas served in the church (not the toilet!) Everyone was out, bar one, so I didn't get far, apart from taking tony a nice piece of lemon sponge, made for last night's fund raising meeting & rather good. I've since planted the pansies, bought last week & awaiting a dry day, & want to clean the outside of the windows before going to collect Christian aid envelopes. A lot of paperwork & general sorting out done today & the lotus ready for sale. Anyone want a 20 year old, low mileage (90,000 miles) medina green lotus M100, S2 with a great number plate - M100LTS? I need some fun & excitement in my life. Any ideas??

Brrrrr

You can tell that it's Christian Aid Week by the weather - cold, wet & windy. Tennis was rained off so I trudged around the village, putting CA envelopes & flyers asking folk to twin their toilet with the new toilet at Church for a minimum £15 payment. You receive a framed certificate stating "This toilet is twinned with.....", to put on your toilet door - idea taken from B&E's Xmas present some years ago. I have since prepared a scrummy lunch - tomato & mozarello salad with wholemeal bread (loaf yet to be paid for - picked up at village shop, no money). Di came to complete my CRB application, since when I have drunk a couple of cups of coffee & nodded off. That's what comes of getting up at 5.00am, I blame the light & birdsong. I came home from B&E's yesterday, in time for the PCC mtg at Church - heavy rain all the way - having gone on Mon to share T's b'day meal at Pizza Express - delicious. I had a potter in Bicester in the morning then gone stuck in with the ironing - very theraputic, order out of chaos. Sunday was hectic - Family service at Sh followed by Mattins at OW, P,A,J&Th for lunch, then Evening Prayer at 6.00pm. I slept quite well. Tennis on Mon am, home for lunch, picked up J & Th from school, cooked tea then left them with G & off to Bicester in time for the meal. Today has been so lazy. Actually, the sun has just come out so I may plant out the pansies I bought last week,still in their trays due to the wet weather. What's happened to the summer?

Autumn.

Although warm, today was windy with drizzle early o.n, hence no tennis, which was a big disappointment. I settled for taking a large bag of clothes, sorted out yesterday, to the charity shop, then on to Knowle & solihull. I went to Curtis's bakers for a cup of coffee & cake, to boost the blood sugar, before attacking the shops. I have a great new dress, white linen trousers & a silk top, all size 12, which look really good. Just need somewhere to go to to wear them now. I bought some bedding plants on the way home, but by the time I arrived the weather had broken - downpours for the next hour, on & off, so gardening on the agenda tomorrow. Should I volunteer to do a couple of hours at the shop? Yes. It will do me good. No word from G, despite a text, so obviously enjoying himself. Stirling is a delightful place, perhaps I'll get there next year.

Done.

It's been a fantastic day - warm sunshine all day & evening. I looked for shorts to wear to garden & found that I had none that fitted, apart from lycra gym shorts, so I wore those - I was criticised for my white legs last year & am determined to be browner this year. By the time I was suitably dressed I had a large pile of clothes for the charity shop & it was 11.00pm! It is very cleansing to make space in the wardrobe/drawers. I did a v hot wash of sheets & towels,with tablecloths & tea towels from Church,yesterday. I had an amazing cappuccino from my Nespresso machine, sitting in the garden & eventually started work at noon. I made up for the late start by working until nearly 7.00pm - I've done all of the front garden, de-twigged the field, mucked out & fed the chickens & scrubbed the garden furniture. I came in for a bath & ran it for too long & too cold, but warmed it up with a couple of kettles 0f boiling water. Scrambled egg & smoked salmon for dinner then asleep in front of "The Apprentice". I'm really off TV at present, haven't really watched it for months. Radio 4 is much better.

M holiday.

Yesterday the four churches were open for the day, each offering a different food selection & maps to walk/ cycle/ drive between them. The weather was fantastic - hot & sunny all day & a good number of people enjoyed the day. Sh church was on lunch - ploughmans' lunches, offered from 11.00 - 3.30pm. Everyone else was otherwise engaged, so I ended up going it alone! I laid tables on Sunday evening & was up early yesterday, shopped at Morrisons in Coleshill, then served lunches, teas & coffees, all day - about 40, I would guess. All went very well, food all on boards/ in big bowls, to help yourself & make a donation. It looked & smelt delicious - just right for a hot day. NW did soup - not so well received, LM did cakes - late setting up & missed the crowd. Last week was hectic - Solihull, to collect J & Th from school on Mon, then on to Bicester to do the schhol run with T & KP for a couple of days. Great fun - whatever's going on elsewhere is all forgotten when with the grandchildren, pure delight. I came home, via MG on Thursday, ready to go to York on Fri, to stay with aj. Nephew dick & Emma were married, in the Hospitium in the Museum gardens on Sat - a heartwarming occasion, with all of the family & many friends there to share the celebration. Aj & I went to the hairdressersat 10.00am, then spent until 2.30pm getting ready - takes longer at 49 than it did at 29!! We left at about 9.30pm, Aj very happy by then, as the disco was in full swing. The family all met at Aj's on Sun am, gradually leaving for home during the day. Today I am spending a day in the garden - chickens out at 6.00am, but letting the air warm before I start. No overseer, as G is in Scotland, touring & visiting relatives. I had long looked forward to Scotland in May, but it was not meant to be. Perhaps another time. Another fantastic day in the offing - hope it lasts until after tennis, tomorrow.

Back on dry land.

AJ & I returned from an exciting "Fjordland cruise" on Saturday, on mv Discovery, the ship that G & I travelled on to Mumbai in December 2009. It was an eventful cruise. "A disaster" is how it was described by some. We should have sailed from Avonmouth on 18 April. Due to storms the previous day the ship was unable to get into port, so we were delayed for a day, causing us to miss two ports of call. We had two days at sea, the first had a couple of hours of sunshine before the "ill wind" struck. That lasted for the remainder of the cruise, with little relief. We did have an afternoon in Stavanger, cold but dry - interesting old town. We were walking, but the tour bus, used by many, would not start. Tour abandoned. The most impressive fjord of the tour was traversed overnight! We arrived at Flam in a force 8 gale, unable to dock, lots of manouevering & two hours later, we anchored & lowered 4 tenders. They were eventually loaded & headed for the quay. The first 3 landed & tourists separted on buses for Voss, up in the mountains. Only number 4 heard the recall back to the ship due to worsening weather conditions. We had a brilliant lunch in Voss, a couple of hours shopping (Norwegian traditional sweater at a bargain price - watch this space!)then up on the railway to join the Flamborgen railway - steepest railway in the cosmos, 1:18, 5 independent braking systems on each car. There was a blizzard at the station, several inches of fresh snow since the last train & a wipeout for much of the descent. Waterfalls frozen. Arriving back in flam we stood for 15 minutes, buffeted & soaked, whilst waiting to board the tenders - surely they expected us to return! The pilot said that he had never known such weather before. Eventually we sailed for the ship on tender 2, tender 1 could not dock to the ship due to the force 9 gale, so we circled, returned to the quay for a while, then tried again. There was great relief all round when we were all boarded, especially the lady with a zimmer frame! On to Bergan - amazingly cold & pouring down all day - we walked around for two hours, then returned to the ship with soaking jeans, despite wet weather gear. We cruised home in rough seas for the final two days - sick bags everywhere - the sun was shining at Avonmouth! G returned from Nepal last Wednesday, having succeeded in reaching Base Camp Everest - a tick in another box, so I returned to a nice warm house & dinner on the table. One of those statements is beyond the realms of probability - I warmed some soup before bedtime! A beautiful morning so tennis, hopefully, then to Solihull to collect J & Th. I have lost a couple of stone in the last three months - lightest I've been since I was a teenager, so I may treat myself to a new pair of jeans today. I think I'll wear the new sweater - that should turn heads. Sounds like a good day.