Category: weather

A toy off the rack – 27 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was coming today, but not until evening. Who would want to be a DPD driver.

It was an early rise for us lazy folk. The lady with the long cotton bud and the questions was coming between 9.30 and10.30am.

She arrived right between those times, and this was to be her last visit to us because from now on we’ll get a sampling kit sent to us and once it’s been used we’ll post it away for checking. The questioning will be done online. All those folk who’ve stood in the rain with masks on, dispensing the sampling kits and asking the questions finish work at the end of the month. I felt quite sorry for her because she seemed to enjoy the work and the meeting people. However, the cotton bud down the throat and up the nose still had to be done today and the questions had to be answered and logged for one last time. I think we’ll keep it on for a while anyway, if just for the free test.

Scamp went off after that to get some essentials from Tesco and I started working out how I’m going to get tomorrow’s picture for Flickr Friday. The topic is ‘Kiss’. My plan involves two ‘Troopies’, male and female kissing. Not as easy as you might think. While I was working on it I got a text from DPD to say that the lens would be delivered between 7.09 and 8.09pm tonight. I had hoped it would be here earlier, but it was not to be.

When she returned, Scamp had bought bread and some bananas. That was lunch sorted for both of us. After lunch, Scamp wanted to cut the front grass because it was a lovely warm day and there’s just the chance t might rain tomorrow and you can’t cut wet grass. While she was doing that, I thought I’d better be gainfully employed, and used the new radiator brush to clean out the inside of the back radiator. It’s amazing how much gunge gets stuck in the vanes of those heaters.

With that done, I offered to cut the remaining grass. I hadn’t realised how technical, cutting a couple of square metres of grass is, but with plenty of instruction from Scamp I got it finished. Or almost finished because she was pointing to a bit I’d missed. Then I was unloading the clippings the wrong way too. I gave up and went for a walk in St Mo’s.

I didn’t get much today, because there wasn’t a lot of insect life about. A couple of Ringlet butterflies was all I found. I was just heading for home when I got a message from Scamp asking me to get a lettuce from the shops. I phoned her to say I’d no money, but if she wanted I’d meet her and we could walk to the shops together. On the way to meet her I found today’s PoD. It’s the seed heads of a Sweet Cicely plant. I’ve photographed them before, but didn’t know their name. Mr Google did. When we got back there was just enough time for a relaxing G ’n’ T in the garden.

Dinner was a salad with lettuce, potato salad (last of our ‘earlys’) beetroot and prawns for me. I’m not really keen on big prawns served cold. I’d wished we’d got some small fresh prawns at the shops. Never mind, it was food. Plus there was strawberry jelly and ice cream for dessert.

Just after 7.30pm the driver delivered the box from MPB. Inside was a red box. This is important. It appears that there is a group on YouTube who have proved that lenses that come in red/orange boxes are better than those that come in white boxes. It’s probably utter tosh, but this was a red box, so I knew we were good!

It’s a neat little lens. Solid feeling and it does indeed produce a distorted wide angle view. Unfortunately it was starting to get dark before I could get any decent images, so tomorrow is testing day.

Tomorrow we have no plans. I thought we were going to a tea dance, but Scamp decided to err on the side of safety. Probably quite right.

 

Wet again – 25 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Then after a long heavy shower, the sun shone and the clouds drifted away.

During that heavy shower I was trying unsuccessfully to repair the boot switch of Scamp’s wee red car. I took cover in the car and hoped the rain would go off because I hadn’t realised just how cramped it is in the back seat of an old Micra with the parcel shelf and the boot cover for company. Also, I was feeling the call of nature!!

Eventually the rain eased off enough to make the short trip to the house doable without getting thoroughly soaked. The boot is now locked and won’t be able to be opened until I get the switch mounted properly. The last time I fixed it, it was held together with that amateur mechanic’s standby viz: Duct Tape and Hot Melt Glue. I’m thinking I might try something more substantial this time as the tape was holding, but the hot melt glue was just sitting there, getting in the way. Allegedly you can buy replacement switches from a bloke in Wishaw of all places. Not sure I’m that desperate yet.

Back in the house and feeling a lot more comfortable, I had, what I can only describe as, a slab of bread and roasted cheese for lunch. The loaf it came from was far too soft to cut with the bread knife, really so I had cut a thicker than normal slice to make sure it didn’t crumble away (it made sense at the time). Actually it tasted better toasted than it had yesterday, just spread with butter.

Now that we were pretty sure the rain had gone, we went for a walk over to St Mo’s. There was nothing to see there and Scamp wanted to get a card in Condorrat, so we extended our walk to the paper shop in Condorrat. The next thing she wanted was a voucher from M&S to go with the card and we walked back the way we’d come and onward to the shops. We got the voucher and something for tomorrow’s lunch and walked home.

On the way Scamp got an email with a cabin number we’d requested, so then two computers were utilised to find where that cabin was located. We found it, but it was nowhere like where our initial email a couple of weeks ago had said. Never mind, another box ticked!

I still didn’t have a photo for today, so I went for a walk around St Mo’s again and this time took more heavy duty armoury with me in the form of the A7iii and the 105mm macro lens. Got some photos that looked worthwhile and came home, because in a change from tradition, Scamp had offered to make dinner tonight. Monday is always pasta and I am usually the pasta chef. Tonight it was pasta, Scamp style. It was Macaroni ’n’ Cheese and it was quite the best she’d made for a long time. Not one morsel was left on the plate.

When I looked at the photos, I knew something was wrong. Almost all of them were absolutely filthy. Not dodgy filthy, you understand. No, dust all over the sensor left black marks on the images. It must have been from the old Sigma 10-20mm lens I’d used, or more likely from the adaptor. It took about an hour with a magnifier a blower brush and a fine white paintbrush (that’s never been near paint) to carefully remove most of the dust. After that, cleaning up the actual photos was fairly easily done, but time consuming. PoD went to a wide angle shot of some wild flowers in St Mo’s.

We got some photos from Jamie showing off his tomatoes. They look great. I’m afraid none of ours are turning very red yet. I suppose that’s one of the advantages of having a ‘real’ greenhouse. Well done Jamie.

Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the hairdresser and I’ve just realised she might need her car, so I’ll have to tidy it up a bit so it doesn’t look such a sight!

A day of mixed weather – 24 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, but always with rain of some description.

Heavy rain, light rain, sometimes just drizzle or a Scottish smirr, but there was always water of some description falling from the sky today.

We voted with our feet in the morning and our feet were up on the coffee table, although I did clear the junk off my IKEA Poang chair and had a relaxing half hour or so on it. It’s a great chair for reading in, but not so good for using with a laptop. I suppose it was designed before laptops were a thing. Allegedly it was designed around 1978.

Eventually had to get up to help prepare lunch and then the laptop came out of hiding and I was lost in Flickr for an hour at least. It did seem to stop raining for a while after that, but it was only a ruse by the rainclouds. As soon as we went outside the rain started again.

<Technospeak>
It was about 4 o’ clock before I decided to put on my new Columbia trainers and take an unusual combination of Sony A7iii + adapter + Sigma 10-20mm lens out for a walk in St Mo’s. I restricted myself to one circuit of the pond and had to get all my photos in that time and only with my Heath Robinson contraption. It’s really a very capable lens. It originally fitted my old Nikon D70, but when I upgraded to a D7000 the lens wouldn’t work with the more demanding electronic connections, so it was relegated to a cupboard. When I was selling all my Nikon gear to fund my move to full frame Sony hardware, I couldn’t bear to part with the old 10-20mm and found an adapter that would allow its use on the A7 series. It still takes great pictures, but is now manual focus only. The other problem is that it’s an APS-C lens which doesn’t quite cover the sensor of a full frame camera, so some cropping is inevitable. I could allow the camera to do it for itself, but where’s the fun in that when you can spend an hour doing it yourself!
</Technospeak>

The old lens took today’s PoD which is a view of St Mo’s pond with its duckweed carpet, viewed from the pond outfall. I just liked all the different green hues in the picture.

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s pakora and curries reheated and with some flatbreads for good measure. It’s now making itself known to me again, so some Gaviscon may be necessary tonight!

Watched the French GP with more than its fair share of thrills and spills. Good to see Hamilton making it to the podium. Not so happy to see George Russell sneaking 3rd place from Perez.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard how they survived the heatwave on Monday and Tuesday. Heard too about the tomatoes in the garden ripening while Scamp’s are still green.

I think it may still be raining outside and we’re forecast for more tomorrow. Maybe the garden still needs a little more.

Messages – 23 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today was one of those dull days where the sun can’t be bothered getting up, so it doesn’t.

In an attempt at finding something to get us out of the house today, we discussed what we’d have for lunch, but that discussion didn’t get us far. More constructive was the next discussion about what we’d have for dinner. Scamp said we needed a few messages and the answer to today’s dinner would be found in what messages we bought. Fine, we were on a roll. Where to go for the messages? I suggested two birds with one stone. We go to Morrisons and get the messages then have lunch in their cafe. That was the plan there and then. We’d drive to Falkirk to Morrisons for messages and lunch.

Drove to the shop, got the messages and put them in the car. Then things started to a bit awry. The cafe at Morrisons is now staffed by a large computer screen where you select and pay for your food. I don’t know how this works if it’s busy, as they can only afford one screen. No humans were to be seen. There was a till, but nobody in charge of it. Ok, I could do this. One scrambled eggs on toast. One filled roll with sausage. One peppermint tea. One Americano coffee. It’s a pain in the backside because you have to confirm everything after you’ve selected it. Paid it and got my receipt. When I turned to go away, the screen flashed up a message “Cafe Closed”. The time was 2.10pm. According to the website the cafe is open until 6pm, and it advertises an “All Day Breakfast”. All day seems to end just after 2pm.

Went for the coffee and the tea. Coffee was easy. Press the button and the coffee is brewed into the cup. Tea is a bigger problem. Hot water is dispensed, but where’s the peppermint tea bags? Eventually found someone at a till and asked where the tea was. The answer was a backhanded “It’s in the pots.” Where’s the Specialist Tea then? After a bit of huffing and puffing she brought out a small wicker basket and pushed it towards me. I think she’d used up her vocabulary on our previous conversation. I picked one and thanked her. A grunt and the basket was gone as was its guardian.

Then we waited. And waited. And further waited. Not just us, either. Half of the cafe seemed to be waiting. Eventually, 40 minutes later a roll with two barely warm sliced sausages along with the toast and scrambled eggs arrived. No apology. No sorry for your wait. We were the lucky ones. The others started forming a queue for their money back. I know Morrisons is in trouble. Now I know why. The most disorganised, unsupervised and plainly rude staff I’ve ever met. They deserve to go down with the sinking ship.

We drove home and it rained. Not a lot, and not for long but it did rain. We’d decided to buy in a curry for dinner.

Scamp phoned Jackie who claimed she was just about to phone her. Everyone always says that, don’t they? I know I do it all the time. While they were on the phone, I went out to St Mo’s for some photos. Decided to take a waterproof from the car and was glad I’d taken it because the rain came tipping down. Walked twice round the pond and got some photos of black currant bushes that would put ours to shame, growing without any care or weeding, planted by volunteers years ago. I nearly pinched some, but didn’t. On the way home I found my PoD. The light was just right for a view down the path through the trees, then this bloke appeared and the shutter clicked!

I eventually ordered a curry for both of us after a disgruntled half hour or so. Something was annoying me and I couldn’t decide what it was, so I went in the huff. So childish, I know. So me. Curry only took just over 45 minutes to arrive and it was really, really nice. Best one I’ve had from Bombay Dreams in a long while.

We watched an old episode of Death in Paradise while we ate. Neither of us could remember seeing it before. Strange, as I thought we’d seen them all.

It’s raining tonight, just as it was forecast to. It will do the garden good to get fresh rain water into the plants roots.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

Keeping Fit – 22 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Not me! This was Scamp’s adventure into dancing fitness.

Scamp was out just after 11am to go to a Fitsteps Tone. I have a Fitbit, so I don’t need Fitsteps too. My Fitbit keeps me toned to perfection. However, while she was away I spent a worthwhile hour or so running up and down the stairs, lifting stuff and searching through other stuff, looking for my Kindle. I thought I’d done almost as much exercise as Scamp had. That was until she came home still sweating from her class. About half an hour after that, I found my Kindle buried under a load of cartridge paper in my room. I really must tidy it up THIS WEEK! Apparently the class was a great success and she really enjoyed it. It certainly looked strenuous.

After lunch, I drove over to Fannyside and got some photos of what I though were sheep, but which turned out to be goats. Very nosy goats that came right up to the fence and one in particular more or less demanded that I take its picture, which I did, of course. I’d intended getting some landscape photos, but there was a van parked in my usual parking space so I went for a drive along the single track road to Arns which is a couple of houses about 50m apart. I eventually gave up looking for somewhere scenic to photograph and drove back to see if Van Man had moved on. Thankfully he had and I got my landscape photos. The lighting had been better earlier, but since there is only room in the parking place for one vehicle, I couldn’t stop.

I drove back after getting some moody cloudscapes. I stopped just after the boatyard at Fannyside Loch and got some better shots with the loch sparkling in the sunshine that had appeared. Behind the sun I could see the rain clouds looming and sure enough, as I was driving down towards Cumbersheugh the first splashes of rain hit the windscreen.

The rain stopped. I, too, stopped, at Tesco and tried to get a pizza and two litres of milk, but with a queue of twelve folk, some with the weekly shop in their trolleys, waiting for a slot in the self-service checkouts, and only two of the ten main checkouts in operation, I put the milk and pizza back in the racks and left empty handed. You’d think that a company like Tesco would be able to organise its staff better. It’s not as if they wouldn’t know that Fridays were going to be busy. The shop is usually jumping on a Friday. Or, do we blame it all on Covid again?

I went to Iceland, got the pizza and the milk and got served in a quarter the time it would have taken in Tesco. Maybe I’m just in a ranting mood today because Van Man stole my parking space in Fannyside!

Pizza was ok, but the glass of cheap Malbec wine was better. All was well with the world again. The PoD went to the photogenic goat, and second prize went to the landscape shot I took of Fannyside Loch.

We spoke to John and Marion in the evening and got an invitation to dinner next month. That will be good. That put another smile on my face. Wrote to Alex and sent him some photos.

Just before Marion phoned the rain started again. Not a shower this time but good heavy soaking rain. Good for the garden.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere, but I also want to clear a space on the sofa in my room.

Cooler still – 21 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It looks like the temperature is returning to the ‘seasonal norm’.

Distinctly cooler today. Not cold by any means, but much cooler than it was in the heights of the ‘heatwave’. Neither of us was in a rush to go out today. Wordles were done and results compared.

Hazy phoned in the morning and gave us the lowdown on living through a ‘heatwave’. She had us laughing at the antics of the cats, lying across the doorway, not willing to move, because it was cool there. It reminded me of a poem “Cats sleep anywhere” by Eleanor Farjeon. Glad Canute has had his op and it was successful. Also glad that Neil is almost finished his marking and his ‘true’ holidays can begin. Enjoy them, Neil. Hazy and I discussed my latest book, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Then she and Scamp discussed Virgin River, the next series. Once we’d said our ‘cheerios’, it was time for lunch.

We didn’t do much in the afternoon apart from have lunch and fritter away some time on games. Eventually I took the Sony A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and got a fairly good landscape shot of the park. Lovely cloudscape that appeared after a bit of post processing. Another few grasshopper shots and some close ups of wild orchids, but just not close enough to be PoD. That went to the landscape with clouds.

Back home we discussed dinner. It seems that most of our day is concerned with food; making it, cooking it or eating it. This time we were discussing it and finally settled on Chicken and Pea Traybake. A nice easy meal, as long as you have chicken and peas. We had the peas, but the chicken was still in Tesco, waiting to be bought. It didn’t have to wait too long. I volunteered to buy some. I also volunteered to cook it. It was lovely.

We watered the garden tonight. I tossed a coin. Heads I did the front (the easy bit) Tails I did the back (much more stuff to water). It was tails. I hadn’t realised just how much the temperature had dropped. Shorts and a tee shirt on a warm evening is fine, but not so on a rapidly cooling one. However I think I did a fair job of it, although it looks as if we might not need to water it for the next week at least. Weather fronts after weather fronts are approaching from the Atlantic.

I got an email from Alex to say that all of the house with the exception of 8 year old Sophie have tested positive for Covid. Glad now that we didn’t agree to do a photo walk. According to Alex the symptoms are fairly mild.

Tomorrow Scamp may be going to an exercise class in the morning. I won’t be doing any energetic exercises, thank you very much!

Cool! – 20 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

A much cooler day.

We probably sat around too long this morning. We should have been out enjoying the sun and the breeze on a much more pleasant day. Eventually when Wordle had been completed by us both, we got our act together and drove in to Glasgow, me to get my hair cut and maybe look at trainers and Scamp to possibly look at shoes and maybe collect some foreign money.

First stop John Lewis, top storey for the money. After that we split up. I went to the barbers and Scamp went to Buchanan Street to look for comfortable walking shoes. I did get my hair cut (No4 on top and No3 on the sides and back). In and out in less than 20 minutes. That’s good going. We walked down to Tiso where I eventually settled on a pair of Columbia trainers. It was the same bloke who served me last week. The one who explained the good and bad things about every shoe in the shop. He was explaining to a new-start that the mountain in one of the pictures was the Quiraing, and that he used to live in a little village called Staffin at the bottom of that mountain. To break the ice I said “So you lived in Staffin?” He replied that he lived there until he was 5, and then left to go to the big city, Portree. We told him about our connection to Staffin and then got down to business. He gave us a discount on the shoes and Scamp thinks it’s because we’d been to Staffin. I think he was just glad to see the back of me after my fruitless search last time.

Back home and it was getting warm again. I’d saved some pennies on the trainers, so I felt I could splash out on some petrol. Just enough to take us over half a tank. Prices are coming down. Today’s price was 189.99 for petrol and 195.99 for diesel. Not brilliant, but a step in the right direction.

We read in the garden for a while when I came back but then Angela’s wee grandson was wandering about shouting and having a laugh in his sandpit, so I came in to peruse today’s photos. My favourite and eventual PoD was 110 Queen Street. It’s taken about two hours to get it from what I saw in the viewfinder to what I’d like to see on the screen. Nothing is ‘real’ in photography.

It’s now down to a two horse race in London. Liz Truss v Rishi Sunak. I think they should dispense with formality and make it “Strip to the waist and fight to the death”, except that would mean Truss would win!

I ordered some coffee and tea from the Bean Shop in Perth and it’s coming tomorrow. Have a look on their website, Jamie. Their selection of coffees is drastically reduced! I think they may be in trouble.

No other plans for tomorrow. We may go out and use some of that expensive fuel.

Not satisfied with one hot day – 19 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we had another one. This one was hotter but more humid.

Two hot days in a row. Does that make it a heat wave? You’d think so by the way the media are harping on about it. Yes, it was hot today, but uncomfortably so. As the day wore on the heat became more oppressive and humid. I think we got up to 29ºc at the height, but by afternoon it began to look as if it was all falling apart. It nearly did in the late afternoon when heavy looking blue-grey storm clouds rolled in. There was a clap of thunder and a shower of rain, then it all cleared away and for a short time, the sun shone.

I stayed inside for most of the day because it was cooler there. Scamp did some sun bathing (with sun cream on) and then went to Condorrat to post a birthday card. She also digging out the weed between the bricks at the edge of the front garden with the little tool Hazy bought her. Really Hazel that’s the best toy tool you’ve ever given her! I was content with sweeping up the weeds she’d dug out and then fixing the sweeping brush.

The furthest I got today was a walk over to St Mo’s looking for interesting insects. My favourite and PoD was the Burnet Moth. Fairly large day-flying moth, its black wings covered in red spots. It became PoD. I also managed a photo of a grasshopper hiding in the undergrowth watching me intently and wondering, I suppose what the big black thing was I was shoving in its face. It was a Sony A7iii with a 50mm Macro lens!

The poor couple next door had just settled down to a barbecue dinner when that rain started. I think they took the food inside, then when they realised it was just a shower, they brought it out again. That seems to be the thing about barbecues, they always bring the rain with them. Be warned, Jamie!

Our dinner tonight was a “what’s in the fridge and freezer” paella. It actually turned our really well and both of us enjoyed it. Watched the semifinal of Bakeoff the Professionals. Didn’t agree with the judges decision, but what difference will that make. Just as much difference it will make which of the Hooray Henrys and Henriettas get the PM’s job. Life will go on as usual for everyone else.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow. Me, to get my hair cut and Scamp to get a comfortable pair of walking shoes. I might look at shoes too. It looks cooler tomorrow, thankfully.

 

One Hot Day – 18 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We were well warned about today. It was going to be hot. They were right.

Last night we slept under a sheet. No duvet, not even our summer 1 TOG. It was going to be one hot day.

Scamp wanted to drive to Tesco to get veg and fruit because we were making a salad for dinner. That was the furthest we went. There was an enormous queue for the petrol station. I wondered what it was all about, then I remembered Scamp saying the other Tesco store in the town was closed for ‘essential maintenance’ and everyone was flocking to our local one. When we got back we put the lounger and the chair out in the back garden where we sat and read for a while. Even I found it too hot to sit for long and wandered in and out of the house trying to find the coolest spot. I didn’t find it. As usually happens with this house in summer, the inside was cooler than the outside.

After an al fresco lunch we went for a walk round St Mo’s for something to do. I took a camera, but find anything worth photographing. However, when we got back to the house we saw lots of Soldier beetles on the Sea Holly (Eryngium planum) in the garden. That was to be PoD. I have no idea what the beetles below are doing! Probably something to do with their alternative name!

Later in the day we walked down to the shops to buy some ice lollies, Mivvies! Just the thing for a hot summer’s day. When we got back it was beers in the garden. Just relaxing in the sun this time with a gentle breeze to cool us slightly.

Dinner was a salad feast. Tuna pasta, Potato salad, Little Gem lettuce, Prawns, Carrots matchsticks in orange juice (try it!), Beetroot, Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Dessert was jelly and fruit with ice cream.

More reading and relaxing after dinner and eventually we had to call it a day at about 9pm. It’s almost 10.30 now and the temperature is still 22ºc. It was 28.5ºc in the afternoon. Tomorrow the weather fairies predict it will get even hotter. Oh, to live in Shetland where it was 16ºc!

Hopefully more of the same tomorrow. I had hoped to go for a walk with Alex this week, but the whole family are down with Covid … except Alex. He was negative!

The warm-up begins – 17 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today was the start of a heatwave. We were warned that temperatures would rise significantly in the next few days.

Nobody informed the weather. It was raining when we woke and it kept on raining for about half an hour. But they were right about the temperature rising. The temperature was around 23ºc in the afternoon which although not earth shattering, was more than we’d had for the last few weeks. Probably that was due in part to the lack of wind which always cools the place down. It has been an extremely windy year so far. Is that to do with global warming too? I don’t know. All I know is that it’s been the windiest year I can remember.

In the morning, we took the tomato plant and the two chilli plants out to get the benefit of the rain, then we just left them outside to talk to the rest of the plants. While I was inspecting the flowers in the front garden (and getting some steps recorded) I noticed a little wee Marmalade hoverfly on one of Scamp’s dahlia flowers. It was kind enough to sit there for me and get its photo taken with not one, but three different cameras from three different dynasties. Ranging from the half frame Oly E-PL5 up to the mighty Sony A7iii with the Sony A6000 wedged in between. All of them produced great images, but the best of the lot was a shot from the A7iii. That photo became PoD.

In the afternoon we emptied out another ‘tattie’ bag. Not as many tatties in this one, but they were bigger. Some were pretty scabby too. Must ask Colin about that the next time I see him. There wasn’t much more to the day. Scamp watered some of the plants in the back garden with a watering can, then set up her lounger and read. In the meantime, I put my boots on and sprayed myself with insect repellant and went photographing insects (?) in St Mo’s where I almost got bitten by a cleg. Not a very clever one, because I felt it land on my leg and smacked it off. Clegs 0 – Photogs 1. I took a fair few photos, but nothing to beat the Marmalade.

Came home made a Pimms for Scamp and opened a bottle of Estrella for me. Sat in the warm garden. Note, warm but not sunny. The milky white sky from the morning hadn’t opened up to reveal blue skies and sunshine. A bit disappointing.

Dinner was Trout fillets with our potatoes and a salad. The potatoes might have been scabby, but once that was removed they tasted fine.

Spoke to Jamie and heard all about Hedgehog Houses and surveillance cameras to photograph the poor things. Must be a bit like being in Colditz! I think they’re resigned to the high temperatures predicted for the next few days. Thankfully the thick walls of their house will keep the temperature from rising too much inside.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk somewhere. Hope the sun shines.