The problem with having several weeks of very wet weather at this time of year is trying to get the washing dry. Not so bad in winter - the central heating is on and, in complete defiance of classiness and sophistication, I drape washing over all the radiators until it is dry. It might have been wet these last few weeks - but it has emphatically not been cool enough to put the heating on! We bought a new clothes horse, which helped. The Builder put up a retractable line in the dining room - which also helped, until it fell off the wall and covered me with damp clothes! It's been put back up with longer, stronger screws! But nothing, no not nothing helped the waistbands on The Builder's boxer shorts to dry. By the time they did dry they smelled all musty and had to be washed again. In the end I resorted to ironing them dry!!!!!!!

At least last week we knew when it was time to go home. Each evening, between 4 and 5, the skies darkened, the clouds rolled in and we had torrential showers for an hour or three. Even on Friday, which was quite a nice day, we were treated to a light shower at 5. So it came as something of a worry on Saturday, when I was working in the Adsetts Centre, and it failed to rain at all, all day, even at 5. Did that mean, I wondered, that I had to stay in the building until the next time it rained? No - I left according to the clock. Just as well. It hasn't rained since. At least, not anywhere I've been. I'm told it did rain in Sheffield over the weekend. Didn't in Chesterfield, not even when a HUGE big black cloud pulled over on Sunday at lunchtime and looked distinctly threatening.

I had been gardening when it did that. Planting out cabbage, broccoli and cauli seedlings amongst the broad beans, in the hope that the pigeons wouldn't notice them. Marlo (who was supervising) and I moved inside and passed the rest of the afternoon (me, not Marlo, who just went to sleep) drinking wine and watching the British F1 race, then the Wimbledon men's final. I baked bread and organised a roast beef dinner for when The Builder came home from laying flooring in a friend's parents' kitchen. The washing dried outside. I had done a little tidying and organising in the morning. It was a highly satisfactory Lazy Day.

I had another one yesterday. I had the day off, Just Because, and really did very little. I did go to the garden centre in Hasland (the one that sells snakes, inter alia) to see if they had a replacement for the starter pull thingie for the brush cutter. He didn't know, based on the information I had. Went home to get the brush cutter itself. Had an amusing time trying to get into The Builder's shed, then trying to get the brush cutter out. There was absolutely no way it was going to fit into the car, and I couldn't find any further information. Had an even more amusing time trying to get it back into the shed!! I ambled into town at lunchtime on the bus. Did some banking, pottered around the shops and the market, spent The Builder's money, pootled about, bought an astonishingly tasteless roast pork sandwich at a sandwich barrow (it was being kept warm in a bath of hot water - meant it was very succulent but tasted of nothing at all!) then came home again. Did a positive Everest of ironing, made some more bread and a cake, read m'book. It was a lovely day doing not very much.

If only life were like that! Back at work today.

Last week I was pottering about, early one morning, in the back garden by the pond. I saw something black dart out of the way and stopped to look down, expecting to see a spider or two. But no - it was a number of the tiniest of tiny, tiny frogs. Ever so cute.

Ian has arrived in our time zone. He's spreading sunshine and warmth all over England. It's still not raining here. I might have to water the garden this evening! A little tiny burst of summer.