So. What to do? As we checked out of the Swan @ Stoford, the heavens opened and it RAINED. We waited in the bar for it to ease a bit and than made a dash for the car.

But a bit puzzled about what to do next. Whenever we come up or down the Fosse Way, we see signs for a National Trust Roman Villa near Moreton in Marsh. We keep thinking that we must go and look at it, only we tend to be driving past rather too late on a Sunday evening, or during the winter when it’s closed. Sunday had seemed like an ideal opportunity to go and investigate. But we don’t want to be doing a Roman Villa in torrential rain. But perhaps it’s under cover. Oh, let’s just go and find out. We can always go away again if it’s raining hard and the villa is outside.

In fact, by the time we got there, the rain had stopped. The villa is well off the beaten track, along quite a narrow, winding road. We saw almost no traffic – and so were quite surprised to get there and find the car park almost full and loads of people about! We spent a pleasant hour or so pottering about the ruins (http://www.chedworthromanvilla.com/) and then hopped back in the car and made our way back along another narrow, winding road back to the Fosse Way.

Another thing that we have repeatedly passed on our way along the Fosse Way is a sign to a small farm shop called Simple Suppers, which is accompanied by a sign which invites you to visit the farm’s piglets. Again, whenever we have been passing, it has been too late to go and visit piglets. They would all have long since retired to their piggy beds. So we took the opportunity to drop down, visit the (very cute) piglets and raid the farm shop. This solved the minor problem of what we were going to eat when we got home. I had intended to take a Sunday joint out of the freezer before we left on Friday afternoon and had completely forgotten to do it. So – roast pork instead of roast beef. And very nice roast pork it was too. Had some more of it last night in a pork, mushroom and bean “pie” with a rosti potato topping. Equally nice.

I had yesterday off. I meant to do loads of useful things like washing and ironing and vacuuming and weeding. What I actually did was washing and ironing and making ciabatta (my first attempt at proper ciabatta – worked out quite well, except I might leave it in the oven a bit longer next time; the air holes collapsed when I took it out and it’s a bit denser than it should be now) and mint and chocolate ice cream, and planting the 60 brassica seedlings which eventually arrived from Thompson and Morgan (had to do this between showers). Oh well. I guess the cleaning can wait for another day.

Stella is due home from the hospital tomorrow. Then she goes back in next week for bypass surgery, plus a valve replacement, plus a repair to an aneurism. Might almost be cheaper to buy a new heart!

Uncle John has had a new accelerator cable fitted. The old one, apparently, was a hybrid made up of accelerator cable and bicycle break cable held together with a jubilee clip!!!! No wonder it abruptly broke. The brake lights are being very hard to get along with. They keep failing. We are beginning to think that it would be very considerably cheaper to trade Uncle John in. Preferably for something that Nick the Mechanic has had a hand in fixing. He is most unlikely to repair and then sell on a vehicle with a cobbled together accelerator cable.