Sunday evening bits and bobs

Guess who found our dessert?

My pickling cucumbers are doing well

View from my garden bench

Another view from my garden bench

The days are tumbling by with great speed.... I can't seem to keep up with all that happens but I do sleep like a log, which has to be a good thing. 

I love those long daylight hours that we have now, good for the electricity bill for starters but even better for the mood. Sunset is at 22:06, sunrise at 4:31 from Saturday to Sunday. It is light for a good while after sunset and before sunrise, too. Maybe 4 hours of complete darkness? 

It has been a reasonably good week, the worst being the weekly shop, which I did on Saturday evening. It was not a pleasant experience. It appears that for some, the weekly shop is a family adventure with granny, grandpa, cousins and assorted children all visiting Tesco together, bumbling up and down the aisles in unpredictable patterns. It took it out of me, I have to be honest. I left the shop with a tight chest and a need for a disinfectant bath. The shopping list was written with the layout of Morrison's in mind but I went to Tesco's to use up some voucher (which I predictably left at home). Not a good idea, it makes it more likely to forget something. If you were to watch me, I am the one following the arrows in the direction they point, ticking off all items on the list as I scan them and put them in the trolley. I notice I forgot the asparagus when I arrived in the pasta aisle but I just couldn't go back because I didn't want to be caught going the wrong way. Yes, I am a bit uptight when it comes to things like that. 

This weekend Alistair and Richard returned the five froglets to the canal where they caught them when they were still tadpoles. The most developed one climbed onto the rock in the little aquarium and it was time to say good bye. It was fascinating to see them grow legs, change shape and reabsorb their tails. 

The week was full on for Alistair with a visit to secondary school to meet new teachers and then a visit to primary school to say goodbye to his P7 teacher (and collect anything not home yet). Then on on Wednesday, he had a big bike crash. He has numerous deep abrasions and is bruised all over. Four days later, he still can't bend his elbow comfortably because the biggest abrasion goes right across. Despite all his injuries, I know Alistair will still ride his bike downhill with hands on his hips and not on the handlebars. Today he broke his favourite breakfast bowl, the one he painted himself last summer. Floods of tears, he was inconsolable for quite some time. 

My running club started a 12 week training programme. I don't have the distances in my legs yet for this  but our beginners coach adapted it to the less fit runners like me. It is still a killer programme. Tuesday for example was 1.6 km warmup, then 4 x 1 km at a faster pace with 2 minutes recovery in between. Followed by a 1.6 km warm down. I shortened warm-up to 1 km and the warm-down to a walk home, maybe 500 metres. It is not fun. I hope one day it will be, maybe when we can run as a group again. Collective suffering is somehow more palatable.

We are now in phase two of lockdown easing. For us personally, this means we can meet with up to two households outside with appropriate physical distancing. We need some kid of family planner to organise our social life so that we stick to the guidelines... Today, we had family friends over today for an outside BBQ.  Sam was the second household, he joined us after his early work shift. Of course it was raining but Richard put up our big camping gazebo, it is open on all sides so properly outside and provides plenty of space to sit at a distance and chat. Like in the olden days but with separate crisp bowls and hand sanitiser on the table. It was a happy day, full of laughter and chat and happy faces. 

Our neighbours have finally cut down the sycamore tree that was growing at an astonishing speed about five metres from our back door. I am so pleased it is gone. It wasn't looking too good, I am not sure if it was diseased or just growing in a place where roots were restricted by retaining walls. Sycamores aren't really suitable for smallish back gardens. This one was a wild seeded one. I know they quite liked the sycamore, or the privacy it provided their garden and I feel a bit bad for being so pleased. I might suggest they plant a small tree, maybe a Rowan, or a medium rootstock fruit tree.

Just one more week of home schooling for the children before they break up for summer. After summer, they'll be back at school part-time, with the rest of the time still being homeschooled. Fingers crossed the Covid-19 infection numbers remain low in our part of the world with lockdown easing gradually. I am not holding much hope. 

Time for bed I think, I am exhausted after an afternoon of socialising. It was absolutely the best Sunday in a long time. 

Thank you for visiting, stay safe and well xx