Too Much Rain, Andy Murray into the Semi's 1st July 09

Well, ok, the garden needed some rain but that's enough for a few days now. I just got the rug from the snug washed and on the line when it started raining and it rained on and off all afternoon. Looking at the radar map there's more in its way too. I did manage to get up to the veg plot about 5pm and did quite a bit of weeding for an hour but then the midges started attacking me and I had to come in at 6. I weeded around the potatoes and some of the fruit bushes. I will have to pick some strawberries tomorrow, there are loads ready.

Buster was fed up and stayed in his chair most of the day:







It's a dog's life...





And who's this on top of Stanley?















It's BlackJack! Good thing Stanley's not alight. The elephant curtain behind BlackJack is all covered in plaster from when Joe did the ceiling. No point in washing it now as Stanley is going soon and the curtain will come down for ever. Hoorah.






The builders were here early and stayed later than usual. They have made the steps down into my room:







We are going to quarry tile them. The door opposite is our bathroom, which is going to be a laundry/toilet/washroom.
















Joe gave the walls their first coat of plaster.

















He left some splendid artwork on the walls. All those sockets are for my computer











How wonderful is this? I think I'll print it and put it on the wall! Seems a shame to cover it up.






I watched Andy Murray play Jose someone Spanish this afternoon and he won in 3 straight sets, so he is through to his first semi-final at Wimbledon. Great stuff. Federer also won, as did Roddick and a German called Haas. I think it's Marray v Roddick, which will be later in the week. It's ladies semi-finals day tomorrow but I guess the Williams sisters will march through to the final again. They are so strong, I can't see any of this year's contenders beating them.

I cleared everything off my desk as it was all gritty again. It's clean until tomorrow.

Jim ran into Kevin, the fount of all knowledge around here, the other day and they got talking about this house. Kevin said he remembered when the new roof was put on. Apparently it used to be thatched. We had often wondered because of the shape of the roof. How romantic that would have been.

Kevin also answered another question for us. The cottage below us, belonging to the Parrys now, used to be known as 'Students' and we never knew why, but assumed maybe some students lived there or were maybe taught there. One of the children (now an adult) once called and she talked about going to play in 'students'. The house was empty and derelict then, and owned by her father and mother. Kevin said a family called the Nugents, (I think that's the name, Jim will tell me if I'm wrong), used to live here and one of their children actually stayed on at school and became a student at college. Now this was very rare in those days as most left school at a young age and worked on the farm. Thus, rather like the welsh who called workers 'Jones the baker' or 'Davis the milk', this scholar became known as 'The student'. He lived for a while in the house down the road and thus it became known as 'Student's'. The house of the student. So you live and learn. I hope the same lady calls again and we'll solve the mystery for her.

Now I'm off to bed. A short and sweet post tonight. Jim will be home at about midnight tomorrow.

Oh, about my hearing aid problem. I found the temporary lost one and of course I had also found an old one behind the skirting board in our bedroom. That one had worked all day yesterday but then gave up, but it did have a proper fitting ear piece. The other one had a working 'mechanics' bit, but no proper earpiece. So, I took the ear piece from one and put the working aid onto it and hey presto, I have a proper aid that works and fits my ear. It is one that sits behind the ear rather than in the ear as my 'private' one does, but it's a vast improvement on none at all. So Gina's happy again!

Now here's a photo that will amuse you:In case you're wondering it's me on the left and my daughter K on the right! I'm not sure of the year but we both look a lot younger! That blouse had big shoulder pads so I guess it was in the 80s!