Bank Holiday Weekend

I have lived in England long enough now to know that, even though it's May, even though the sun is shining, even though the sky is blue - the chances are that it is nevertheless not going to be particularly warm.  Warmer, probably, than it was in February, not not necessarily in the least bit hot despite the deceptive sunniness of the day.

So when I tell you that I wore summery rather than wintry clothes to Bishops' House on Saturday morning, you will understand that I don't mean that I was dressed for a Melbourne summer's day. I wasn't really even dressed for a midsummer day in Derbyshire.  But I was wearing a short sleeved shirt. And I was wearing a fleecy cardigan rather than a ski jumper.

And I was absolutely frozen.  Frozen solid. The heating wasn't working in the shop or the parlour.  The day turned grey and blustery. I didn't have my gloves with me. After 3 hours in the shop, my fingers were frozen, my fingertips had lost all feeling, and my feet were like icy poles, only probably not as tasty.  Next time I shall take my ski jumper and my hat and my scarf and my gloves and a flask of warming hot chocolate. And the time after that. And the time after that.  Even in August!

None of this seemed to deter visitors though.  There was a gentleman waiting outside with two children even as we opened. And they couldn't stay for long because Nana was coming to visit soon.  We had 18 people through while we were there, which is quite good for a Saturday morning.  It would have been 20 if I had counted the young man who came bouncing in, hotly pursued by his friend trying to entice him out.  The first boy attracted the antennae of both The Builder and The Librarian as being Up To No Good!  But they didn't stay and I didn't count them.  So 18 visitors it was.

You really wouldn't think it was May, though.  It remained chilly all weekend, even though it was sunny and bright on Sunday, and even on Monday morning.  Mind you, we also had lots and lots and lots of rain.  Sunshine and showers, I believe the weather people call it.  But I could wish that the Weather Dogs would bring us warm not Arctic rain!

So I had a nice long weekend off work. It was very relaxed.  We ate and drank and pottered about and didn't do anything particularly exciting. I did a bit of baking and The Builder did a bit of digging. We watched the snooker and The Builder watched the football. It was nice to wake up on Monday morning and not have to dash about. We went to the garden centre and the supermarket and I did some more baking (an ambitious and, happily, successful raised pie for lunches this coming week) and we slurped gently into an evening of the snooker final on telly