Afternoon

 I have got this far with the kitchen 

Still cluttered...but getting there. Oh for a proper larder!

And a dishwasher!!

Next step is to review the contents again.  Not to hide things....well yes, to hide things that aren't regularly used and it makes sense to have them not crowding out the bench!  Things that are heavy will have to stay though.

Time to get brave and actually learn to use the bread maker ....and if that doesn't suit I can sell it! 

It didn't stay nice and clear....so no gardening. 

I found a print of an old photo of Nantlle in Eryri where we used to live..eldest was born in hospital but the other three were born there...you can just see the roof, farthest away on the right. 1, Tai Baladeulyn.

Tai means houses...it is a row of six.  Bala is where the water leaves a lake...Llyn....Deulyn, two lakes. One lake is a field's distance behind our house...the road leaves the village on its way to the sea and used to go straight on, past Chwarel Dorothea...a 600 foot deep slate quarry, now with over 400 foot deep water in it. Not just rain, the river broke through from where it runs beside the quarry...there are still the remains of a Cornish beam engine used to pump the water back into the river. People practice diving there..and every so often lose their lives.  It is very deep, dark and cold.. dangerous even for skilled divers.

When we had our earthquake in the mid 80s the quarry was between us and the epicentre out to sea...we heard the tremors in the 600' deep loudspeaker before feeling them.

They made a new road with a bridge over the Bala...pont y Bala....and the second lake was drained and the river diverted further from the quarry.

On the left, opposite the Chapel on the right were footbridges over a stream and as far as I know a communal drying garden for washing.

You can see the road going into the trees, and a quarter mile further on was another part of the village and the school.

It took fifteen years fighting to get a path up on one side of the road which was slate walls on both sides...long after we moved...we used to walk the children to school in groups for safety. 

Go up that road and you get to Rhyd Ddu at the foot of Yr Wyddfa, the highest peak...the peak is 8 miles away....and the seaside at Dinas Dinlle is 8 miles the other way.   We didn't often go to either...never been up the mountain even on the railway....that was for tourists.

My daughter wants the print...good...one less thing here!

Op +8, getting ready

 That is our sky this morning.. yesterday was WET!!!

Yesterday morning I started getting the house sorted for today's work...

and by lunchtime it was confirmed that pirate will be back home on Friday.

If the boiler hadn't given up, he would have been back by Tuesday afternoon..they are desperate for beds, and when I arrived yesterday afternoon we found that the station he had been moved to was only going to be open until the end of the week unless the health board decides otherwise.

The health service here is good, co-ordinated with social care unlike other places further South..but like everywhere it is stretched. But thankfully no strikes here.

The station (ward) he had been moved to was cooler..a good idea, to get patients used to more normal indoor temperatures.

He was happy with his company..a younger man who cycled when young, but has rediscovered the love of the bike!

Luckily I managed to travel by bus ( car went to the garage first thing) while the rain had eased..but as the afternoon went on it came on heavier..and it was a downpour by 5pm....gutters full and running sort of rain..

With the timing of buses, I had to go into town and get a bus back out..

Then supper and clear everything away from the radiators.

And awake in the wee small hours to realise that I needed to clear access to all the windows as well as they will fit ventilators to bring the house up to building regs...

6am start....

Busy indoors away from the storm

 This morning's sky at the front..no view of the Clyde today!!

A little later at the back , before...

It closed in again.

The traffic advice on the radio this morning was... Don't!!

No rail until at least the afternoon with so many trees and lines down.

Gusts of 89mph in Lanarkshire on the M8 motorway and 124mph in the Cairngorms.

While Pirate spent the morning in bed until a late breakfast...and again after a shower until a very late lunch..

I attacked the living room to make it more livable. Apart from being clean, all the fleabay packing materials have been sent back to the study/spare bedroom. 

Two large heavy carrier bags of books have to be sorted into sell/give away.

Two boxes of bike bits probably need labelling and pricing for a Cycle Jumble..some things sell better in person.

A garden  potting up tray has bike cleaning materials...and a shallow cardboard fruit box holds genealogy material.

So what happens in the nice tidier living room? Pirate put an old towel down and changed the bottom bracket on my old track bike that my clubmate is now using!!!

The new one is titanium...and runs like silk!! It was also £220 trade price!!..but is an important step on the way to the World Masters Track Champs in Roubaix in October.

It is lovely seeing her success, especially against others much younger than her... yesterday a third place against two riders half her age at most!!

Now the job is done..with much huffing and puffing...he needs more exercise in the getting down and up department! Time for tea with all the tools cleared away.

The storm is blowing over...ready for the next one..Storm Jocelyn is on the way...but should be about 20mph slower....not a lot of consolation!!

Tidying

 From this....to a useable space...

And there is a heap of flowerpots to sort!

The seedlings are lining up to be potted on....job for tomorrow!

Home day

 A day of getting things straight.

More washing and keeping. Time  to haul things out of my wardrobe and question their existence there! It shouldn't be difficult to find items or to put them in their place.

I have one wardrobe and coats in the boiler cupboard.  I still feel that I have too much!!

Fleabay has come back into action...one sale, which is nice, a few revisions and offers sent. The sale is packed ready to send tomorrow.

Pirate is thinking of selling his Snapon and Cornwell tools after the one went so quickly on fleabay...and at a good price too.  After all he isn't going to do spannering on airplanes any time soon!!

I am envious of my friends at the other side of the Globe, having a view of the Beaver Moon eclipse. Even if it hadn't been at daylight time here, we seem to be getting cloudy nights just when we could be seeing the heavens at their most active!!  

The merest whisper of a meteor shower is enough to bring on the clouds and rain!!