Cloudy

Cloudy was how the day started and very darkly cloudy with heavy rain was how it finished as the evening drew on. The temperatures hovered around 16C which was quite cool and quite convenient for me.

I was lazy; I flexed but did not swim. And I got up and showered a bit later than I had intended. I planted up my courgette plants and the two tomato plants I had bought the other day. All of this had a bit of a knock on effect for the rest of the day.

I had intended to walk H on Lardon Chase and have a quick chat with T, and whilst I made it as far as Lardon Chase , I did not get that chat with T.
This was because I noticed that our garden waste bin had not been emptied along with our other bins, this morning. This annoyed me because I had especially mowed the grass yesterday so that the clippings would be removed. All other brown bins in Underhill appeared to have been emptied. But my brown bin sported a pretty pink label (oh the ignominy of that punk label) saying sorry it had not been emptied and offering me the chance to telephone someone it other.

Which is what I did. I telephoned that someone or other. The only trouble was that making that phone call from the top of Lardon Chase was not very clever because the signal was crap and the conversation became more guesswork than reality.

Judging by the recorded preamble about being polite and treating staff with respect, I think this waste department of SODC must receive a number of calls from unhappy customers, of whom I was one.

I took a deep breath whilst the very helpful listener attended to my query (aka moan). I was promised the bin would be collected by midday tomorrow- silly arses have got to make a special trip now. It seems as though someone thought there was an irregularity with our account which had communicated itself to the team of refuse disposal engineers, who are the boots on the ground. It seems that that someone made a mistake.

The guesswork bit of the conversation improved because I drove the car down the hill to find a better signal.

Hence H and I only got a walk as far as it took her to do her poo.

We had to pick up Fleur from school after her GCSE Maths exam and return her home. The Maths went well.

And then we were off to Newbury to meet Brenda to take her to see Michael in his care home near Basingstoke. I have always enjoyed these trips out, so did T. But today will be my last because Brenda is, at last, just about driving again. Only a couple of short trips so far, but by this time next week she will have her freedom back. After years of pain and not being able to drive, due to it, the knee operation has finally come good. I am so pleased for her. To be so dependent on other people is a nightmare, and I was only incapacitated for a few weeks for each operation.

While Brenda was with Michael, I whiled away a chunk of time in a nearby garden centre. And frittered money on flowery bedding plants, and two cucumbers.
I also bought an unusual extra tall flowering pélargonium for Peter and Freda. I will try and keep it looking good and put it in a nice pot with something else before taking it to Leeds next weekend for their diamond wedding.

I now need yet more potting compost.

The cool temperatures were convenient because it meant I could leave H in the car whilst I was in the garden centre. And then she got a short wander just before I picked up Brenda from the care home. We returned to the Little Roses cafe at the Garden Centre for a late snack lunch, where H got spoiled with treats and a bowl of water.

And then we went home. I carted all my plants – mostly really colourful Triobells- and some lobelia to the back and I watered them, just before the big black cloud, that I mentioned earlier, did its stuff. Over the next couple of days, I will need to sort them all out and pay another visit to Lidl for more smaller bags of compost. Waitrose sell them too I think.

So that was it for the day … and More Hotel Fortune with all its wiles and the lovely Stephen Mangan.

Thought for the Day