Bank Holiday Monday

The day started off rather murky and I wondered if we were really going to get any decent weather after all. But by lunchtime, the sun had got his hat on and we were away.

In the end, though, I didn’t do any sunbathing at all. We were busy, busy. Although to be fair, I was slow, slow, busy busy. Still struggling to find the energy to run around.

John stayed in bed for a bit after the exertions of yesterday and so I baked some buns while he slept. Paleo-style, in an attempt to keep the ol’ boy healthy which I am still trying despite all his attempts at sabotage.

Once John was downstairs he was keen to get on and do some more on the hedge-planting. Amazingly, he didn’t feel too bad and was happy to tackle it. Mind you, medication takes a while so it was nearly mid-day by the time he started. A repeat of yesterday but more progress because he’s managed to get three of the blighters in! Excellent job.

Afterwards, he had a bath…… I don’t know if he struggled to get out of it today. I didn’t ask.

I had bought a few plants yesterday and decided to plant some of them up as is often the tradition on a Bank Holiday Monday. The hose was playing up though so, before I started, I thought I’d pop to the local garden centre to buy a new spray head. Oooh…. they had a table full of herbs. Might have bought a few. Ooooh… they had a section of bird food. Might have bought a couple of bags. In fact, I did a fair bit of impulse-buying – and I had only gone for one thing!! Ah, well, a bit of retail therapy does you good, I hear.

Home again, and I potted up the hanging baskets for the back of the house. I’ve yet to do the front ones because a) the garden centre didn’t have any coir to line them with; b) I need to buy more plants; c) I had no more energy, once I’d planted the back ones.

In essence, because the garden centre didn’t have the lining I was after, I bought sphagnum moss instead. Normally, I line the baskets with my own moss gathered from the lawn, but since Steve treated the lawn there’s none left……. Anyway, once you’ve watered the baskets which are now full of sphagnum moss, they ain’t ‘alf heavy! Nearly did myself a mischief lifting them onto the brackets. In fact, I probably have done myself a mischief….. we’ll see tomorrow when I get up whether the twinges have gone away.

Well, actually, the mischief was done either heaving up the hanging baskets or heaving the mattress this morning. In between other jobs, I was changing the bed linen and washing/drying it. Underneath our sheets we have one of those mattress protector things that encases the whole mattress. I looked at and decided it was time for its wash. But, heck! The mattress is very heavy and unwieldy. Was it then that I did my shoulder/hip in? Or, on the other hand and now I think about it – was it, maybe, when I was lifting my weights that I thought I’d try this morning? Hmm…..I’ll let you know if I’m crippled in the morning.

All in all, another productive, if messy, day. And by messy, I mean that we have now littered the house with all sorts of things and not tidied up. Gulp! And we’ve got guests coming tomorrow…….ah, well, they are old friends so I am hoping they’ll turn a blind eye to the mess.

In the news today we are being softened up for a delay in the full opening-up of the country on June 21st with the Indian variant now being the dominant strain of the virus. Scientists are telling us that this variant is 60% more transmissible than other strains and there is a big push to get people vaccinated.

There have been 3,383 people confirmed as positive for the disease today and one death in the community. There is no new data though, for those who have died in hospitals today.

Bank Holiday Monday was good for us. Hope it was for you, too. The weather forecast suggests it’s going to be another warm, but perhaps cloudy, day tomorrow. Enjoy it while we can is what I say.

Take care everyone. God bless.