Same

More dull, grey and very rainy weather. The rain was not constant and varied in intensity.

It was certainly inconvenient.

My night had been unusual. Having arrived home late last night, I dived straight into the remains of Question Time and then local election coverage. And from there I drifted in and out of sleep all night as news was streaming out of my phone. This eventually went flat and I was rewarded with peace.

So, I awoke quite late at around 07.30, my phone being recharged and therefore full of energy once more.

I managed to get myself going. Goodness! This late night partying really won’t do. I needed to get H out and about because we were due to meet Sue and Jane at midday. Near Aldermaston.

In my absence, Loren would be coming to clean, so I did some tidying up, well quite a bit in fact. And then we were off.

But… I discovered it was absolutely pouring with quite torrential rain. This was not going to be fun. By now, I had decided it would be a short walk at Streatley Rec where there was a cinder track to keep my toes dry. Only it had transmorphed into a river because the rain had discovered it could flow faster over cinders than across grass.

My Achilles (heel) was continuing to hamper my walking despite dosing myself up. But, in any case, arriving at the Rec, the rain was very heavy.

I was confronted by this extraordinary sight:

Bonkers – personal training in a rainstorm. We added to the bonkersness by wandering round the Rec which was enough for H to do what she needed to. And hopefully for me to deceive her enough so she thought she had had a longer walk.

It was really lovely to see Jane and Sue and we whiled away a while at the Butt Inn putting the world to rights. H was slightly restless and quite interested in the occupants of a nearby table. And whatever they might drop on the floor.

We made it home where I drifted off again. Probably a result of the night before, though not unusual. I expect I will be awake all night now.

I found Amazon had delivered a parcel in my absence …

I had finally used the last of the Palaiochora olive oil from 18 months ago. I knew supermarket olive oil supplies in the UK are erratic and of unreliable source. And cost around £16.00 for a litre of the quality stuff. So, investigation via Amazon has bought me 5L of what I hope is decent olive oil, all the way from Crete. No messing around with litre or half litre bottles here.

Yesterday I discovered the story of the visiting black cats. They belong to Tracey next door. It is a sad/ happy story. She lost the last of her elderly cats last autumn. In a particularly horrific way – eliminated by a car outside her house – and in her words, splattered on her driveway. That this happened in Underhill is difficult to comprehend. But someone pointed out that delivery can drivers do not observe the same awareness as residents. Merely speculation.
So, to cut a long story short, when faced with three kittens all requiring homes … the only way to decide was to take all of them. The grey one has yet to introduce himself. I would love a cat but I’m not sure H would.

Annoyingly I am still suffering from the biting I received two days ago. Just so you know… I have itches, as T used to say.

The elections have produced a mess.

Thought for the Day

Sorely missed…

Ready for Samaria Gorge… Illis and Roberts – there’s a thought… in Dad’s memory …(18km)