Friday 15th July 2022 - This and That

Following the fitting of new carpet in our bedroom on Monday, we put everything back in place in the heat of the afternoon; the following shower was most welcome. Next on ‘the list’ - a new window in the workshop and a replacement satellite dish. Peter ordered the new window and our ever-helpful village builder, Gary, who re-roofed our home last summer, is fitting it with Peter assisting. Gary told us the old tiles from our roof which were quite brittle, hence the reason for replacing them, are now on a Grade II listed building in Suffolk. As for the satellite dish, Peter is going to fit this but first he has to remove the old one which, due to our marine environment, is totally rusty. If he has a problem with the tuning, village friend and satellite dish installer has volunteered to help. I remember our first dish, when we lived in Bucks, our eldest son completed the set up with the aid of two wooden kebab sticks! All in all, we have had a fare few things going on over the past weeks – I wonder what else we will find or decide to do next.

I had an appointment at the hairdressers on Wednesday morning after which I popped into Morrisons to top up with some soft drinks, to keep us refreshed in this warm weather. Having started online grocery shopping at the onset of Covid, weekly supermarket shopping has become a thing of the past After walking around the store, dodging a melee of shoppers with their trolleys as well as staff restocking shelves, I felt no desire to return to what was our routine weekly trip to the supermarket. In the afternoon I met up with our ex-WI group in the Potting Shed Tea Rooms at the Garden Centre. I was totally over faced with the chocolate brownie I ordered and had to leave about a third, half the amount would have been fine. Not just my brownie but the scones and other cakes and slices were massive too. Eight of us sat around two tables pushed together and we chatted about a variety of subjects, one of which was the election of a new leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, a topic which is virtually monopolising the daily news. I think it’s safe to say, we all feel one particular candidate will receive the most votes but we’ll have to wait until September to see if we were right.

The new fencing on the High Street boundary of the Sports Field, see photo below, was completed a couple of weeks ago. As beneficial the former hedge would have been for wildlife, to my mind the new fence has tidied up this part of the Sports Field’s perimeter and looks rather smart. With a heatwave forecast, the coming days are going to be all about keeping cool. The Met Office have issued a red warning and the country is now classified as being in a state of emergency. Some areas could experience record breaking temperatures of 40°C and although, here on the coast, it could reach 36°C I am hoping the sea breezes will provide relief. It’s going to be a case of being sensible, not going out in the midday sun, applying a strong factor sun cream and keeping hydrated.