Sunday 11th August

Well it was a seven start so it looks like I'm back to normal.  I made coffee and then took my Kindle and phone on to the balcony and had a gentle wake up reading until around nine.  I had beans on toast for breakfast, took out some spicy kebabs for tonight from the freezer and thought I might use up the rest of the can of beans tonight but the kebabs and beans are still waiting in the fridge,

I used the hose pipe to water some of the big shrubs and my maple along the top wall, filled up the water holes for the tortoise, was none of them out this morning but if they had any sense, and I believe they do, they were hiding in the dense hedges along the walls where it remains cool.  I checked out the recently cleared garden and the rose bushes are still looking very fresh and the lavender seems to be settling in nicely.  I toyed with the idea of moving more plants over from other areas but it's still very hot to be doing this so decided to leave them alone to take their chances where they are.

The rest of my day has been very lazy.  I carried on with my new book and managed to get to read twenty four percent of it and then promptly went to sleep.  Despite the windows and doors being open and a breeze coming from the hillside it was still a pretty hot day and it's not really cooled down at half eight.  This afternoon I fell upon a series, The Cook of somewhere, a rather old Spanish film based on a book that I wouldn't mind reading.  It's a twisted plot of love and intrigue and I settled on the sofa and binged watch five episodes and will be going back for more when I've posted.  I've also got this feeling that supper might remain in the fridge and come out as breakfast tomorrow morning.

No plans for tomorrow.  I've got my list of things 'to do' but I can't foresee any of them done..... it might even be a pool day.  LN....Just one more episode or maybe two....Thanks Netflix........LN

Monday 12th August

As my eyes opened I notice that the sky was announcing the arrival of the sun and I had a guess at what the time was.  I had to get out of bed and put on the landing light and I'd guessed at six forty and it was six fifty, my biological clock was still ticking along nicely.  I made my coffee, thought about going outside on the balcony but went back to bed and started reading my book but had got so involved in the Netflix series last night that my brain was still programmed into that so put the Kindle down and went out to walk the garden.  One advantage of writing a blog is that at least it keeps track of the days otherwise they could all merge into one.  I'd lazed away the weekend after monumental work in the garden last week so didn't feel guilty about it and at my age there's no one to tell me what to do so it's all down to self-flagellation and I've beaten myself up too much in the past.  

I was sitting at the desk on the landing and thought I saw one of the tortoise down near the bottom of the garden so put the camera on close up so I went out to see which one it was  taking my coffee with me.  It was Rosy, I think she'd been at the pears for a morning snack but was much more interested in taking the morning sun. I noticed that the little flower bearing shrub that is still nameless had got bigger flowers on after I watered it yesterday and sat for a while on one of the two logs at the bottom of the garden viewing the estate and I'm still amazed at how it came to be.  The garden has matured and some of it will be cut back when the drought ends, amputation is not good when the body is out of balance.  We need more rain, I caught the man reading the water meter two days ago and I'm going to have quite a bill this month and so are a lot of people probably.  I came in the house and got busy.  The kebabs from last night went into the slow cooker with a can of kidney beans, one of tomatoes and some tomato purée and that is supper, ready when I am.  I had beans on toast for breakfast, washed up and cleared the kitchen and the day was all mine.  

I thought about the swimming pool but decided against it, I took my blood pressure using the big machine first and the wrist on after it and considering that I stopped all tablets about three months ago, everything is perfect....for a twenty year old.....but I spent part of the day writing down what I'd eaten over the weekend, I had red blotches turn up yesterday and I've put it down to ice-cream, heaven forbid or the fact that the water pressure had gone down when I had a shower and washed my hair and conditioned my hair and wasn't able to rinse it properly. Anyway, most of them have gone now and not so itchy.  I finished the last two episodes of the series I was watching and the ending was as expected so I could close the brain on it and go back to Bosch and the Kindle which I did which as you have probably guessed had the same results, two hours asleep on the sofa.  More reading, ice-cream to cure a dry throat, more reading and now it's seven, time for supper and then relax, not that I've been very energetic today but at thirty four degrees, not really to be expected.  I did make a watering tonic for my pot plants of water, white vinegar, brown sugar and baking soda and spread that round a few on the terrace.  I'll check those out over the next few days to see if it's effective and also harvested more tobacco seeds for next year.  LN.....That was plenty of activity for one day, shower and then supper.......LN

Tuesday 14th August

So last night was a bit of a performance.  At around ten I decided to play a few games of Solitaire before I took to my night nest and was knocking off the puzzles quickly and without much brain activity to do most of them.....and then it struck.  One that I couldn't see the key to had arrived from nowhere, I knew that I had to get the two red aces out and in the second column I had both red twos but I was going down the rabbit hole and kept hitting brick walls.  Now it must be said that I don't like giving up.  There had to be a solution and if there's a solution, I have to find it, I can't let an unsolved puzzle go down as a negative statistic.....I'm not made that way.  I noticed that the puzzle had a number but I couldn't remember how to recall it to reset the board if I switched off the program, I was close a number of times and at one in the morning, my brain must have gone into solve mode, must have gone on to automatic pilot and ....it was solved.  I switched off the computer and sidled into bed from the desk on the landing, didn't bother slowing down by reading and straight to sleep.

I woke just before seven, made coffee and straight on to the balcony, watched the sunrise and not a cloud in the sky.  I know that I'd mentioned the pool today but I had this nagging feeling that I hadn't confirmed to his mother that the lessons were off for the school holidays so I started to look through the bookcase for a suitable book and I suddenly remembered that having downloaded and received a wired book that I can download as many of the Roald Dahl as I want to my Kindle.  I do need to get the Kindle App down to my new tablet though and list it.  I filled up the watering holes, noticed that the wisteria that was going so well had taken a turn for the worse so I took it from the pot, washed the roots and left it in a bowl of water.  I think I'd overwatered it with a 'magic' solution that obviously didn't suit it, took it out to the garden to put it in the long bed near the high wall, put down on the ground while I did something else and then lost it and it took about five minutes of scouring the grass until I found it again.  By now the temperature was up to thirty six degrees so my time outside was coming to an end, the wisteria is now back in water and in the shade and on the list for tomorrow.

I had a shower and washed my hair and suddenly realised why I'd had problem rinsing my hair last time I'd washed it in the shower.  What I thought was conditioner was shampoo with added coconut and this obviously didn't agree with my skin and hence had brought up the rash and at least the shower was on full power so I made sure that not only my hair was rinsed well but also my body.  I put the bath towel round me and went out to my bedroom balcony to dry off, I put up the umbrella or at least tried to, wind turned half of it so it overlapped the other half, I was jiggling the towel at this point so left the umbrella, back into the bedroom, dressed and then went out to tackle it.  I settled on the bench in the shade with my book and read for about an hour, dried my hair and dressed for Djebel,  I arrived at the car shop, my student had gone into Kardjali for football training so obviously no lesson so I sat with his mother in the shop and we had a general catch-up.  I was surprised that the football season has started, he's moved up to the Elite team and now the team is in another league, even going to Sofia to play games,

I drove home around six, stopped and bought a few things including bread and Coca-Cola. more cheese and salted crisps. Thursday and Friday have been earmarked for winter wood preparation, st least that work can be done in the shade and its time I made a move in that direction,  LN.....  Tomorrow is definitely a swim day, I need the exercise and to clean my skin thoroughly.......LN

Wednesday 14th August

Another seven start and another beautiful day, sun up, not a cloud in the sky and a perfect day for ....swimming.  I did my usual chores, watered the garden and pots, was unsure whether I wanted breakfast or not but saw tomatoes that needed eating so fried three of the big ones and had them on toast.  Packed my bag for swimming, put my suit on under my blouse and jeans, remembered to take empty bottles to the car-shop for them to re-use and an egg box, Kindle for the pool and off I went doing all the things on the way that needed to be done.  I parked up and there were only a few people there, shook hands with the owner behind the bar, put my handbag on the bar to find my purse, only to find that I'd not packed it.  With a look of disbelief on my face all he said was 'drug put' which means ' pay another day', he issued me with the wrist band, I thanked him and set up my little camp for the day.  Two sunbeds, one in the sun and one in the shade, a big square substantial umbrella and a side table.....I know my rights.  About half an hour later a young boy who I'd helped with his English a couple of years back and who is in someway connected to the owner came over with a message to tell me that I could have what I wanted from the bar and the restaurant and I could start a tab.  I asked him to thank the owner from me and only settled for one bottle of water when my own ran out.

I swam loads but unfortunately a high wind got up and people started moving to more sheltered positions and I found myself between two families so I moved, put up another square umbrella and made another pitch.  I've enjoyed today, I'm finding that swimming is much easier now that my body is getting back in shape,  I've adopted the breast stroke and managed to do three lengths if the pool without stopping and not even thinking about the swimming,,,everything was just so easy today.  I didn't worry about my purse, I knew that I'd put it in my other handbag and just hadn't included it in my swimming paraphernalia.  I left at five thirty to beat the Kardjali rush since I have to go  through the centre of town to get onto the Djebel road and I just timed it right.  I couldn't do any shopping, didn't have any money and was exceptionally careful  going through villages.  I didn't' have my driving licence with me, that was in my purse or even my residents card....so caution was required.  

Home safe and sound, put the car away, found my purse in the bag that I was intending to take with me this morning, washed the swim gear ready for tomorrow if the weather is good, tried to book a flight to the UK for October but the prices are 'sky high' and no pun intended so instead checked the Christmas prices and booked that instead after phoning my daughter to see if they'd made any plans for that time.  When back and was processing payment when there was a message on the screen apologising for the price changes, I started swearing but then I noticed that Easyjet had reduced the prices by just over seventeen pounds so the price for the return flights is just a little more expensive that booking a hold bag one way....amazing.  Unfortunately again I have no photos but I promise not to let you down tomorrow and it's too dark now to even thing about it.  LN.....I can hear my little owl hooting away, you'll just have to bring that image into your head.....LN

Thursday 15th August

So seven start again this morning but it was partly due to the fact that I was lying in a cool bath last night.....I've developed prickly heat after yesterday in the sun and found this as a way of cooling it down.  I'd put aftersun on last night that had irritated it so much that the bath was the quickest way to get it off and cool me down short of harvesting the aloe vera which seemed a little out of the question at midnight last night.  Today hasn't really helped anything, we hit forty degrees this afternoon and even with the doors open and providing a breeze, it was just hot, hot and more hot.  Last night also found me searching for the documents for my old car and scanning the necessary documentation for the eventual transfer of the car to my grandson.....he wants a project and he really has got one.

I had my coffee and meandered through my morning settling at my desk in the stairwell and somehow got involved in cleaning my fountain pen collection, filling up with ink when necessary or removing the old cartridges and replacing with new and this took me on to ten thirty more or less and then I cooked tomatoes on toast which did me through until three this afternoon.  I had a morning visit from my next door gardening neighbour, she'd dug up the rest of her potatoes and brought me round five kilo which should last me quite a while.  She also gave me the news that her husband is in hospital so trying to manage everything herself, including the cows, she has a hard life.

The intentions were good for today but nothing was really achieved.  I had a visitor this afternoon, the person who owns the next single storey house has come over from Turkey for a week or so and her husband had gone to sleep and she wanted somewhere to be.  We discussed lots of things, she asked me if I would be going back to England and I replied that I would go for holidays but not to live there again.  I would find England exceptionally hard, the health service here is just so good, too many waiting lists and everything there is so expensive.  She asked me about my home town there so I showed her the calendar that I have of Brighton and said that I was about fifteen minutes from there but further along the coast and you could just see my home town in one of the photos.  She mentioned that she had lots of mosquito bites and so I found her one of the mosquito electric tablet burners that I have and gave her one and some tablets to last until she goes home, she'd never heard of them before.  She stayed for an hour, thought it was about time she went home and fed him if he was awake.  That's when I settled for cheese and biscuits and I shan't be cooking anything tonight.....I'd settled on the sofa after she left and it was eight when I woke up to gunshots and very loud music which signifies a pre-wedding henna party in the village but I didn't go down to investigate especially with guns being let off.  More music, dogs barking and children crying, I'm pleased I slept well this afternoon otherwise I could be cranky tomorrow, and I'm not sure what time it will go on till.

I've just watered the garden and goodness has it suffered today.  I'd moved one of the inside plants outside to give it a good watering which I'd done yesterday but had forgotten about it today and found quite a few of the leaves quite crispy so tomorrow I might report it but bring it inside again in the cool of the lounge and giving it a haircut, it's very leggy and I have three new babies that I've propagated and one is flowering already so that might even be its replacement.  LN......I think my outside working plans for tomorrow will also be shelved, I feel the call of the swimming pool hard to ignore and I really should go and pay my debts and this time remember to pack my purse along with my swimming gear.......LN

Friday 16th August

Normal wake up time. outside on the balcony taking in the sun but didn't stay there long, that sun was getting too strong for my itchy legs.  I had a really late night....in the bath.... cooling my body down before I took to my bed and an 'allergia' tablet to stop the itching and it worked.  I finished my Bosch book and went to find the next one in the series on the Kindle and realised I didn't have it loaded so that was one of my challenges for the day and it took until five tonight to get round to doing it.  The books are stored on one of my old computers but I managed to fire it up, remember the password to get into it and there they all were and the books are all in alphabetical order by author and I've added another eleven to the collection on the Kindle....lots to go at.

Toast and apricot jam for breakfast, still haven't managed to do the washing up but I did managed to strip my bed, remove the mattress protector, wash everything that I took off it even the headboard cover, wash the cotton floor mat, hoover everything and remake the bed.  The sheets that I took off went back on, drying washing isn't a problem when it up to thirty five outside and even now at seven fifty it's still thirty two degrees.  I had a visitor this morning, the father of one of my good friend who now lives and works in Germany pulled up outside and I didn't recognise the car.  He eventually got out and came towards the gate so I went to meet him and he came to collect some clean water bottles knowing that I'm probably the only local that buy it from the supermarket and I always have them.  He went away with six so another satisfied customer, we spoke about his daughter and that she has passed exams in Germany and has been promoted to a new job.  I sent her a message congratulating her, she's a dear friend.

I did have a little nap this afternoon but then went back to finish off the bedroom and took the bathroom apart giving it a good clean under the unit that the wash basin sits on, the large bath mat was also put in the washing machine and that's now drying with the other.  I need a bath rug in there, the last thing I want to do is slip on the tiles, things take longer to heal as I get older.  The landing was hoovered but that carpet has got to come up, it's full of static and holds everything that falls on it including my hair.  I thing tomorrow it comes up and goes in the little house over the concrete ....best use for it.  I made a phone call to a friend that I worked with when I was sixteen and she was nineteen to check up on how she is and she said that she's not feeling too good at the moment so I advised her to check her blood pressure every day which she's not doing so that she might need her tablets adjusting.  I take my regularly now and haven't had need to take any blood pressure tablets for a few months now and if I feel under the weather, I just don't do anything, I listen to my body.

There's supposed to be a super-blue moon heading out way but I think it's going to pass us by since it's not rising behind the mountains.  I'll have to check it out nearer the time.  Supper time and not sure what to get tonight.  I think it might be a chicken breast in the air-fryer....nice and easy to do and I could put some potato wedges in to pad it out. ....and that's my next job after I've watered the garden.  LN.....It's all go here.....LN

Saturday 17th August

Six start but I didn't get out of bed straightway.  I woke up slowly, made coffee and then went back to my bed with the next in the series of Harry Bosch books.  You have to read them in order, new characters are introduced and even though I read them all about eight years ago, I'm still finding the plots intriguing.  The remains of the crock-pot from two nights ago went over the wall along with the green speckled bread from this morning and there were a few old eggs that I took out and did a little target practice with.  I'm funny about eggs, I intended getting five fresh ones when I went shopping later today...and I did.

I finished cleaning the bathroom, moving half bottles of shower gel to the wet room downstairs and a bottle of shampoo.  I tried washing my hair in the bath but it's so difficult to rinse the shampoo out of it that I've changed back to my normal routine...have a shower and wash my hair.  I gave the bath good clean, finished off the floor and the window sill, another job done and dusted.  I settled for toast with apricot jam again and noticed that I'd put three jars of beetroot on the worktop last night when I was looking for some to go with supper.  Unfortunately the contents of the jars had all gone brown so maybe now I should be keeping it in the fridge so the beetroot went over the wall too.  As I walked to the wall I heard the clattering and squeaking of one tortoise cornering and trying it on with one of the others in the Grave garden.  Unfortunately they were deep in the shrubbery and I didn't identify the participants but it was too hot for me to be outside  so I left them to it.

I was in the Nipper at half eleven, I was taking some of the potatoes that my neighbour had given me and she offered me a bag of apples from one of her trees at the garage.  I settled for three, I'm not going to be making juice for the winter like she is so I said I would accept ready made, my juicer will remain pristine in the box as good as the day that I bought it.  I went to the chemist and bought more allergic tablets and at two boxes for about five pounds I think that's really good.  They are good for stopping the itchy skin and making me sleep through the night.  Next stop was an my ex-students house but there was no one at home.  It was her birthday last week so I wrote a card out and put money in it suggesting that she bought something that she wanted not needed but unfortunately there was no one at home, the gate was locked so I headed back to my little supermarket, bought a few items, treated myself to a choc-ice cornet that I managed to eat driving home using the ashtray when I had to negotiate the gears.  Unpacked the shopping, onto the sofa with my book and then a two hour nap, the temperature was up to thirty five again so much too hot for anything else.  I went out to water the garden and the pots remembering to spray my legs and arms with mosquito spray and filled up the tortoise watering holes for tomorrow, put my rack of ribs in the oven to cook while I was outside and came back into the house to a delightful aroma of barbecue spare ribs.  I found some potato wedges in the freezer, they went into the air-fryer and supper was done...all I had to do was eat it and the rest will go for cat's breakfast tomorrow.

It seems that there is a party going on over the field to the front of my house and my neighbours next door have some soulful Turkish music bursting forth from the darkness of their garden.  LN....Perhaps a romantic interlude....they might have got the idea flom clattering tortoise this morning....LM

Sunday 18th August

Five thirty start so little too early to start my day so I really tried to go back to sleep but no chance.  I decided to get up and get going and I tacked the time on to my afternoon nap...why not.  I made coffee and had to put the light on since dawn was still thinking about it, finished my book and got to thinking about the next and it was there ready to open since I'd downloaded it the other day.  I'd collected quite a lot of rubbish so decided a bonfire was on the cards and as you know there is preparation to be done.  I connected the hose and soaked the grass round the burning bin, put the rubbish in and set fire to it Putting the lid in place so that everything was contained.  There was a fair amount of smoke from it, the lit has got a hole in it to let the smoke out and I checked later and most of the rubbish has been burnt.  While I had the hose down the bottom of the garden I watered some of the crispy shrubs, the weather is still brutal knowing that we were in for another hot day.  I watered the rescued bed and the roses seem to be holding on in there, moved on to the terrace pots, turned the water off and it was only nine thirty.  Lots of bee-eaters around this morning swooping and landing on the electricity cables.  Previous years they've settled on the dead branches of the walnut but since the dead wood has been cut away, they're that much further away.

So they were having breakfast and I decided that since I'd bought fresh eggs yesterday it was poached eggs on toast this morning.  I cleared the kitchen, thought about going to cut the lavender and decided that it would be better if I left it out in the sun and did it later which I did.  I meandered through the rest of the morning, I attempted to fix the door handle on the inner door of the little house but it's got a complicated arrangement with a locking spring to hold both handles in place and I can't work out how to do it so after about half an hour I gave up.  There's still the porch door that locks so it's not a problem but I hate things that don't work and I can't fix.  I swept the workshop terrace removing the little pears that have fallen from the tree in next door's garden and they all went over the wall along with the dried wild plums that have fallen from my tree near the low wall.  I had to keep walking on them when I went to throw anything over it and checking tonight, everything has gone, pears, plums, leaves and even the beetroot from the other day.

It was too hot so I came in and settled on the sofa with my new book and yes, it was four when I woke up.  I played around on the internet for awhile and at five thirty started cutting the lavender ready for drying in the little house and was doing OK until I moved a little to near to a hidden wasp nest and met with a couple of stings.  I jumped about a bit but then spotted a praying mantis so went inside for the camera and came back with the fly spray.  I shan't be bothered with the wasps any more.  Quick watering of the garden, had to change one of the hose connectors so that the spray nozzle didn't keep shooting off.  Lavender in the little house, tools away, everything locked away, not bothered about supper, I pigged out on ice-cream this afternoon.  Eight thirty my time and I've just watched the moon come up and unfortunately I think I need to reset my cameras, it's a beautiful orange colour on the screen but the cameras seem to take out the yellow pigment and deliver a white image.  LN....I now have cameras to sort out.....doh.....LN

Monday 19th August

Sorry....no update as such....internet down...huge thunderstorm in Kardjali.  If it comes back up I will tell you about my day at the pool....if not I'll be sorting it tomorrow.  It's not me.....I'm a paid up member and I noticed it at nine fifteen tonight.  The moon is one step nearer to being perfect....the Blue Moon is supposed to be the 20th so I shall be on the look out with camera at the ready to see if it lives up to all expectations.  

I was up early yet again, had finished everything I had to do and it was only nine thirty.  I contacted my student's mum to see if he wanted to go to the pool or not but he'd already left for Kardjali, he was having a double football training session since the team didn't have a match this week.  This gave me a little more leeway, I didn't have to leave at a specific time and could now work through to departure leisurely and depart at my own speed and this was further slowed down by my new book.  Eventually I was in the Nipper at ten, Djebel was packed being market day and so was the Makaza road when I hit it about five kilometers outside of Kardjali.  It took me more or less an hour to get to the otherside of Kardjali and I didn't reach the pool until fifteen after eleven.  My usual man wasn't there so I explained to the other one that I wanted to pay for my previous visit and today's visit and two bottles of water, the one I had the other day and one for today.  Eventually we worked it out together and I set off to find a sunbed in the shade with an umbrella for when the sun came round,  There was a funny mix today at the pool, one gang of girls round the shallow end and mid twenties men in twos round the deep end.  I'd settled myself somewhere in the middle and using the steps which were not being used of gathered round.

I had three quite long session in the pool, was reading my Kindle until the battery ran out which came as a surprise....and then I was down to people watching until I decided that I would leave at four, visit Kaufland and Lidl and get some shopping in.  I stopped off and filled up with gas and must remember to put petrol in next time I'm in Djebel, the car starts on petrol and runs on gas, it's much cheaper that way.  Cloudburst on the way back home, the roads were flooded and lots of local pulled off into laybys but I just kept going for it.  Home for six, unpacked my shopping and put it away, put the Kindle on to charge, swim gear in the washing machine, fish fingers out to thaw for supper and as I sat down to start the update it was then that I noticed, no internet.  I phoned a friend in Djebel and he said that they'd had problems with it late afternoon but that everything was OK.  I attempted to get it going but nothing doing, what with the storm and thunder and lightning, it could have been anything.   LN.....Time for a quick bath before bedtime...it's supposed to be quick but the Kindle is now fully charge so it's in the lap of the gods.....LN

Tuesday 20th August

What a day of contrasts.  It started out dull but dry so I moved outside with my coffee to wait and watch for the the sunrise.  There was the glow in the sky and eventually it appeared, up until that point we had patterns on the clouds but once up the magic seemed to disappear.  At that point I went in and made more coffee and came back out with my book but that was short lived, so I took up a resting spot on my bedroom chair bringing the little table in with me for a leg rest.  The rain didn't last long, it was building up its strength for later in the day and goodness did it deliver.  I used up the old tomatoes by frying them and having them on toast for breakfast had made plans for today and I was doing well.  I started clearing out the woodstore moving the starter wood that I'd cut from the tree-pruning last year into the porch of the little house.  It's dry in there and easy to get to and all was going well.  Next job was to move the remaining old wood from the back wall, stack it against the wall nearest the door and that would be used up first.  I tried to split some of the bigger logs but they are really dry and no way would the axe get anywhere near them so that's a job for the reciprocating saw when I get round to it.  They're now by the door and stacked with the others.

I had a slight problem, I had to be really careful removing the old logs.  The rest of the starter wood is stacked against them and I had visions of removing the ones from the corner and everything tumbling down and me having to start again with the stacking.  I left one row of the old ones which seemed to do the trick and once I'd swept out the corner, I put the folding ladder in the space along with the chipper and that should stop any movement sideways.  I was doing really well but then suddenly the sky was very grey, the thunder loud and the lightning overhead more or less so I was soon indoors running around unplugging computers and television, switched off my phone and took to the sofa with my book.  It was then when I noticed that there was more than rain, it was hail stones but they were more like lumps of ice.  The wind got up, the ice was pinging against the windows and this seemed to go on for ages.  The yard was underwater, but fortunately the side path is raised, I went out to clear the drain under the concrete by the front gate but the thunder came back with a vengeance and I went back inside.  The grass was white over, the temperature had dropped considerably, the wind had picked up, trees were bent over and leaves were flying around.  I went back to the sofa and yes, a two I was in the land of nod and would repair any damage later.

At four I was out there again and checked the Nipper for dents from the hail but all was well.  It was covered in dry grass from the yard but I took that off with the hose later.  I finished the starter wood, swept the woodstore again and the garage removing the leaves that had been blown from the trees and then remembered that I had another job to do.  The cover to the water inlet had rotted away so I measured up for a new one, cut the wood, found the nails and hammered a new one together, not perfect but adequate and attached a couple of rubber car mats over the top of it to stop the water getting through it.  It will do for another few years.  My final thing crossed off the list was to try to raise the front gate and slide wire between the spacers so that it rides a little higher and opens easily.  I remembered how I did it last time and used the same process and ...done and dusted.  Tools away, everything locked up and I didn't realise how late it was until I checked the clock when I came in....just after eight.

Not too fussed about supper, I'll probably have cream cheese and breadsticks and as for that super moon, not much chance of seeing it tonight.  In fact I've just noticed that the street lights in the villages are out, the storm must have done some damage but at least we have electricity and so far....internet.  LN...Time for a bath, I feel that I need to freshen up before bedtime and that cheese is destined to accompany me to the bath with breadsticks and my book....the joys of living on your own.......LN