Sunday 31st July 2022 - Noticeable Change, Plans and Rainfall

Here we are, the last day of July and already there is a noticeable change in the number of hours of daylight. I can no longer wake around 3.30 a.m. and see that dawn is almost upon us and at the other end of the day, it is starting to get dark around 9.30 p.m. Still, that’s the way it is and no doubt our friends in New Zealand are seeing longer days and maybe even flowering bulbs are pushing their way up through the soil in their garden. My dad’s cousin and his wife had two farms, one in Norfolk and the other in New Zealand, splitting their time between the two. Now that’s what I call canny, spring and summer all year!

I am currently in the food planning stages for a visit from our family. Their visit will coincide with Peter’s birthday and Cromer Carnival week. I am also jotting down notes of places we can visit, in between time on the beach and the carnival. Nothing will be, as they say, cast in stone as to what we will do and when, as the weather will dictate to a certain extent, but it is good to have ideas to draw on.

After so many weeks without rain, over the past week we have had the odd shower but nothing that would do the garden any good. That was up until this morning when I woke about 4 a.m. and could hear gentle rain falling. It has rained on and off since then and will do the garden no end of good, as well as filling the water butts. We spotted two frogs sitting on our lawn enjoying the rainfall before hopping off into the flower border. However, the timing of the rain could not have been worse because today is the day of Overstrand’s Annual Fair. So much time is put into organising, setting up and then after the event, taking everything down, members of Overstrand Together must have been really galled to see the rain when they got up this morning. In the past both Peter and I have been involved with the Fair, one way or another, but this year we went to see the vintage cars, look at the stalls and take a few photographs, which we managed between the showers. Our eldest grandson shows great interest in tractors so I could not resist photographing the John Deere of some age to send to him and include in today’s blog.