Hoping to get a few more bookish things up in the next few days when I have recovered from (a) the heat and (b) having to say goodbye to my daughter who returned to Australia on Sunday. I spent most of Monday tracking her plane and feeling bloody miserable and weepy but decided to just go with the flow and wallow as I knew it would pass. When she landed and was safe then I felt better and now back in the old routine again.
A mixed week. I had a spectacular puncture when one of my tyres more or less exploded on me and had to limp home on its uppers and making the most awful noise, one of my lovely neighbours changed it for me and then I had to arrange for a new tyre. As it was in the late 90F by the time I sorted this out I was not feeling too good and spent the afternoon in a darkened room with the curtains drawn. I had this kind of heat when I was in Australia but somehow I could cope with it there. I suppose everything there is geared towards this - air conditioned buses and trains for a start and, also, in Sydney you are never far from a beach or the harbour and this makes life easier.
On the Friday night of last week we had thunderstorms and lightening and heavy rain and Oh it was bliss. My next door neighbours and I were out in the rain dancing in the garden - sure everyone else thought we were potty but it was great. Some flowers and plants which were dead on their feet, or stems, whatever, have suddenly perked up and started looking a bit lively again which is good to see.
Then my glasses fell off my nose, the right arm had totally sheered off so had to go into town to get it sorted. I had to have a new set of frames as these were unrepairable but as these were bought in Buy two Get one frame free promotions, it cost very little to get them mended.
After this was done I decided to go and get my new phone as it was due for an upgrade. I was not panting at the leash to do this but thought I may as well explore my options. So I walked into phone shop (I am not identifying them) and stood and waited to be attended to. And I stood. I was totally ignored by the staff, one was busy so no problem, but the other guy was wandering around with a box load of phones, took one look at me and then walked into the back room and shut the door. So after another few minutes of being looked at as if I was Lower than the Dust beneath the Chariot wheels I walked out. Went into another store where I was greeted with a smile by a lovely guy called Chris who sorted me out beautifully. He spotted a photo on my phone of Harry Potter world and turned out he had been three times and we had a fun chat about it all. He set my new phone up, got it all sorted and made the whole experience fun.
Thursday - OK fell asleep last night before I could ramble on. Some of you may be delighted at that but I am back. There is no escape.
This week my sister and I went to Castle House in Dedham, home of the painter Alfred Munnings where we, along with other volunteers, are helping catalogue pictures, paintings, photos etc etc and it is going to take a long time. I have now got the hang of the archive program and we are speeding up a bit now and getting quite a bit done. I am rather enjoying it and in the winter we are hoping to catalogue the library which my sister, an ex-librarian and cataloguer is looking forward to. The drive there and back was lovely - I have discovered a country route which is better than going on the A12 and it was a glorious day.
And today I have watched cricket. All day. I love T20 cricket and watch the IPL (Indian Premier League) every year and that is great fun, but nothing beats Test Cricket with its ebbs and flows. Yesterday we had the familiar English Batting Collapse without which a Test Match would be boring and it is nice of the England team to think of us in this way and keep us entertained. Then today when India came in to bat they had a Collapse too and it all added to the gaiety of the nation. Kohli, the Indian Captain, played a majestic innings of 149 in order to save the loss that was clearly staring them in the face and though he received a not very friendly reception when he walked onto the field, he got a standing ovation leaving. It was a great day and the match is nicely balanced.
And my delight in the cricket was added to at the end of the day when Alastair Cook was out for a duck....
Yes I know, I am mean. I don't care.
I am off up to London at the weekend and no doubt we will all be sweltering again over the next week or so as is forecast and really this is a very boring post and my apologies. I will be doing a reading round up soon.
In the meantime I am lying on my bed with the fan going full blast and hoping I get some sleep tonight.
Oh and thought you might like to know I now have an Instagram account and am deluging all and sundry with my photos...
