23C

Another very warm and very lovely day. It started for me around 05.00 and with a banana and then I booked swimming for around 08.00 and off I went.
H is always invited to go outside when I awake, but sometimes she can’t be bothered to get herself off her bed. I have to watch her in these light early mornings, when the doors are open, because there are barking temptations. At 05.00 it might not go down well with the neighbours.

The pool was busy, and the water choppy until a few minutes before my 1000m was done. Choppy water makes front crawl much harder. And sometimes gives me an unexpected chlorinated drink if I am not careful.
Today brought a first, I received a text from Pen whilst I was in the water. My new watch allowed me to type a reply also from in the water. Fancy that!

But I felt content as I drove home through our wonderful countryside.

Even more content, because I had popped into Didcot M and S Food Store. A few days ago, I had decided my purchases would only include watery, fibrous and leafy items. It was good to get shopping done, otherwise I would have had to juggle H and take her home after her walk, to avoid leaving her in the car in the current heat.

My shopping

H was more lively upon my return, so we did our Cholsey Meadows wander. And she dashed around greeting other dogs with moderate enthusiasm.
Every day there are changes to notice when out and about. The trees are very graceful at the moment, dressed up in their summer finery . The man with the long lens was out and about once more, and a black lab had a wonderfully splashy time.

I set up the recliner outside, and sat in it, grabbing about 30 minutes of pure relaxation. There is a renegade runner bean in hutch needs repotting into something and adding to my patio allotment.
My leggy tomatoes have calmed down since being repotted and placed in the cool of T’s study and have gained almost gained another pair of leaves. They are no longer leggy.
The dwarf cosmos seedlings are growing apace and are now outside.

There is a local sale of plants and crafts tomorrow which I might visit and see if there are any more advanced tomatoes and u need a courgette and cucumber plant, if one of each will do.

H is going to require the use of the zap gun as I am fed up with her doing circuits of the garden barking at our neighbours as they pass by outside the fence.

I met up with Alex, Fleur, Helen and Dave at the Coppa Club on the river. There, we had lunch. (Well the chocolate cake was flourless) It was lovely to see Helen again who we have known since she was five, when she and Ali started school together. She once came to Greece with us and we island hopped – to Paros notably, to Naoussa. A great island. 1992 I think. ( I have seen her many times since then)

The A34 south from Milton to Chievely is closed again for the whole weekend, as is a chunk of the M25. They manage roadwork so well over here. On the continent there is none of this nonsense that I recall.

We sat on the river terrace and enjoyed seeing a calmer Thames with boats there for pleasure.

Fleur sat her first GCSE today, in biology. Apart from her Art exam and French Oral, which are already under her belt. Next week is a heavy week for her with English Lit, French X 2, History, Maths , Psychology and Chemistry. That’s 7 exams…

Evie has been busy with her A Levels, doing mostly practical aspects so far. She has a week to wait before her next exam.

Penny who gas not been well, for a few weeks now, with, possibly whooping cough, has gone for a few days in Sicily with friends. Whooping cough is on the rise here, but test results are taking a while to be returned.

She had a bad day yesterday when an Amazon driver smashed her car and then ran away. Neighbours saw him driving away, and he has left a fair bit of debris as evidence. Dave has sold his big car and not yet replaced it, so they are left with one working car- their fiesta. This is a lovely (little) car although I believe Frankie has remodeled it.

I will not be dining tonight due to my lunch out. The weekend ahead is somewhat blank.

Excited- 4 more episodes of Clarksons Farm are released. I feel a binge coming on.

Random Thoughts for the Day