We woke up on Saturday morning to the promise of wild, windy and largely wet weather – and to the sight of blue sky, sunshine and pleasant breezes.
So I did several loads of washing and hung them out in the hope they would at least air before the rains came. And The Builder went to the allotment with his brush-cutter and cut brushes in the hope he could reduce some of the tangled jungle that was down the bottom before the rains came and that we would be able to see what we were doing when the weather dried out again.
The sun shone. The Builder came home, jungle defeated. We went to the thriving little Post Office and sent some parcels and collected a package. We went to the Wingerworth library. I borrowed a couple of books and stopped to read the notice board. The Wingerworth Horticultural Society is running a coach trip to the Three Counties Agricultural Show near Malvern in May. I was pondering whether we would need to join the horticultural society to be able to go – until The Builder pointed out that we have not one but two cars, and not one but two drivers; should we wish to visit the Three Counties Show we could possibly travel independently of the WHS! We went to the garden centre. We came home and had lunch. I brought the (dry!!) washing in and put some more out. And we went back to the allotment so The Builder could rake up the thrashed brushes he had cut and I could tidy up the smaller greenhouse and start digging a bed I was going to put sweet corn in at the end of May (except I might now put cucurbits in instead.)
We were driven home earlier than we had hoped by the abrupt arrival of a HUGE BIG BLACK THREATENING cloud.
We got in and poured a (soft) drink.
The big black cloud went away. But it was too late by then. We had moved, a trifle early, I grant you, into evening mode and were not doing anything further that was energetic. Apart from bringing in the rest of the washing!
Sunday dawned, as promised, bright and sunny and cheery. The forecast for Sunday had been sunny and warm for the past several days. So we had arranged with Taffa and Gaz to go down with Freyja and the Travelling Hippoberries (and one sleeping bear) for a spot of lunch in one of the pubs and then for a walk.
So that’s what we did. We collected Freyja and the furry ones, then Jenny took us on a simply delightful cross country trip to the A1 and we made excellent progress down to Cambridge.
Then we had a lovely stroll to the Anchor, where we had Sunday Lunch by the river, then we went for a Sunday Afternoon Perambulation along various bits of river and back into the town centre. The weather was lovely. The afternoon was peaceful (apart from a merry altercation The Builder had with a man stood by the side of the canal who was not paying close heed to what he was doing with his Punting Pole and in an inattentive moment nearly knocked a young lad who was just ahead of The Builder for six – this apparently was the boy’s fault!! Oh, and The Builder, it seems, needs to “get a life”, and presumably one in which we don’t care about the health and well-being of young boys). We had a wander in the Build-a-Bear shop and bought presents for the Furry Ones, and G, TB and I pottered in the Sunday Market while Taffa and Freyja visited the Disney Store. We strolled back to T and G’s house, deposited them in their lounge room, collected all the Furry Folks, and returned Freyja to Sheffield. We have hung on to the Travelling Hippoberries and Sleepy Bear. They are coming to Cornwall with us on Friday.
We didn’t go to visit Peter and Joan – by the time I thought about it it was really too late to organise it. We will have to go down again sometime in May or June, have more lunch, more walkies, and arrange to meet them over food or drinks or both!
We have now successfully completed 5 whole weeks without alcohol. Five and a half weeks without cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolate. We have also, at various points, given up crisps and snacky things (which I did on Ash Wednesday, but The Builder didn’t until the second Sunday), cheese and full-fat dairy, red meat, fried food and now all fleshy things to eat. Counting down to the Easter Feast!
Although – it has to be said that I am enjoying the Lent food. It sits well with spring cuisine. Or it did, until I declared veggie food for this week. We really enjoyed the steamed chicken on rice noodles for lunch on Saturday, and the grilled tuna steaks with tiger prawns, new potatoes and steamed spring green things on Saturday evening. And I have become quite partial to soda water with fresh lime juice squeezed in. I did miss a glass of wine by the river yesterday though.
There may not have been a steam train at the Sheffield Station last week. But there was one on our railway line on Saturday. It went up in the morning (and I just caught sight of it as it went up, under the bridge). Then on Saturday evneing I went into the kitchen to deal with the tuna steaks, looked out the window - and there it was steaming its way cheerfully back down southwards. An investigation into what it was also drew our attention to the fact there was a steam train festival at the Barrow Hill Roundhouse over the weekend. Too late for us to go on Saturday and, of course, we couldn't go on Sunday. Must look out for it next year!
Four sleeps until we go away :-)
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