Empathy

I can help but empathise with the camel who has got the hump - see here for the story. His keeper thinks he is depressed because of the rain, and the symptom is that his front hump has gone floppy. If I can work out how to make my front hump floppy, I shall join him.

I'm also pleased to read that the Havant killing machine is not suffering in the rain.

Sunshine

Today the sun is shining. Ebony's foot is better, so we shall go for a walk in the sunshine.

The train journey yesterday was only possible after a landslip which was blocking the line between Leamington Spa and Banbury had been cleared. Seeing that and watching the television pictures of the efforts in Gloucester to keep the water out of that power station, it strikes me that an awful lot of people have worked very, very hard to stop the quality of life being eroded. From one humble citizen, Thanks to you all.

Let's have some sun

The dismal wet weather is driving me nuts. I want some sun, and I want it now. I want to sit on the patio with a beer and cook on the bar-b-que.

Rant Over

Water, Water, Water

All it has done today is rain, and I mean Rain, with a capital R.

Our friends across the road were having a big lunch party for some 60 people, so it is all their fault!

No News is No News

No news - that's what I've had from home. Which almost certainly means nothing has happened. As my sons grow older, they seem less communicative - I know less about their daily activities.
In my rather autocratic way, I left a list of things that I wanted done, and I'm guessing that none of them have been.

Oh well, guys, stand by for a tongue lashing tomorrow.

Here we go again....

Sunday. A good day to take Chris for his first practice drive in our old Peugeot. First we had to find the L plates. He did OK. We drove up and down a little road on a trading estate which had a roundabout at each end. Then we drove round some adjoining roads with roundabouts and a little more trafic. Then I made him drive home. He seems to have the hang of the basics, but his hands appear stuck to the steering wheel. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it again tomorrow.

On Queuing

We Brits are renowned queuers. Yesterday I had two experiences of queues. The first was in the bank to pay in a cheque. When I arrived, there were three tills open each serving a customer, and three of us in the queue. The time taken to serve each person was simply ages. This leads me to think either the staff in the Clapham Branch of the bank are incompetent, or the customers have incredibly complicated financial arrangements, or the two parties have great difficulty communicating. I've used this bank several times, and the staff seem to have no difficulty understanding me, or processing my transactions, so I conclude that people in Clapham have complicated finances. Why this should be, I cannot imagine. Any ideas why people need to spend so long at the bank would be most welcome.

My second experience was in the Clapham main Post Office. Here the queue moved forward regularly and no-one complained when a severely disabled man who fell before he could join the back of the queue was helped to the front and served immediately. It all happened without a murmur. Made one proud to be British, as did the story here about a group who restores a man's car while he was in hospital. Interesting to note that this was the most read story, which shows that people do like good news.

Monday

I don't like Mondays, but today is one and I'm feeling smug. I've fixed the three things in the garden that the head gardener wanted fixed, I've mown the lawn and I've reconciled the Friends of the Music accounts. It is now time for lunch. If the rest of the week is this good, I'll have a great week.

Dispiriting

Once again, I'm in Clapham. On Tuesday evening, Clapham, along with a small surrounding area was hit by a severe hailstorm. There were pictures on the news of streets white with hail. A longer lasting effect of this freakish occurrence is that all the flowers in pots, hanging baskets and window boxes have been smashed to pieces.All the blooms that were here last week have been replaced by stalks, and not all of those are intact. All the hard work and love that went into making the displays has been wiped out in a few minutes.

It just makes my spirits sink.....

Birthday season

The beginning of July is birthday season in our house. Jini's birthday was yesterday, and Chris's is today. Both seemed pleased with the presents they've received, which is a relief for the donors. The Andrew Marr book "A History of Modern Britain" will provide many hours reading for us. I'm just hoping that I can borrow it at some point.

Chris is looking forward to the start of driving lessons on Thursday evening. All too soon, I shall find myself dragooned into sitting with him while he practices what he has been taught. The only thing to look forward to is that it will be another person who can drive us around.

Oh well, we can start saving for the twins birthdays in November.

Two down, I submit (in the sense of two submissions or a fall)....

Number one son arrived home yesterday. The signs of his renewed habitation were the same as those when number two son re-appeared, i.e. large amounts of washing and loads of boxes, bags and other impedimenta all over the house. Oh and a car that looks like a van until all the seats are re-established in positions that mean human bottoms can sit on them again.

Now I love my sons dearly, but they are large. They consume space, food and electricity in disproportionally large quantities. Just when you think you'll finish that tasty morsel you spotted in the fridge yesterday, you go to find it to find that it has already been scoffed. There is noise late at night. They need to get a job to tire them.

We have just spent a splendid afternoon looking round the open gardens in a village called Idlicote. There were some lovely houses and gardens and the people were very friendly. Not sure I'd want to live there, though. It was an awfully long way to the shops.