A fine adieu to August.

This morning the sun is back and after making scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast and my usual Italian coffee, I am able to hang out a line of white washing. Norman hasn't eaten his eggs for some reason, perhaps because he didn't see them on my plate first. Before setting off for Cherry, I put a load of coloureds on to wash, including a cellular blanket that used to belong to my maiden aunt, Dolly had stained it during her stay with a little blood. We pick her and Teddy up and arrive on the Westwood for ten o'clock, where despite two days of torrential rain, the common is still fairly dry under foot, one of the advantages of living on chalk downland. There is no wind today and the sun is shining out of a cloudless blue sky. It is pleasantly warm, although little more than 17 or 18 degrees. The terriers are glad to be off the lead again and dash here and there, checking for new smells and saying hello to the other dogs. Norman toddles on a few yards behind, doing similar things but in a more genteel and dignified way. We get back to Cherry for eleven and I spend an hour finishing off the edging and weeding of the back garden. Pip keeps a low profile, but the radiators are warm, so the central heating must have been restored. I drop Normy back at the bungalow and put away a dozen fresh eggs that I picked up from the farm shop on my way back from the Westwood, before driving to the pool for my swim. There are no classes today and I am running a little late and so don't enter the water until a quarter to one, but then have the luxury of an almost empty pool and a clear lane. After warming up on 400m freestyle and then doing the same on backstroke, I decide to take advantage of the clear space and swim 8 x 50m butterfly, with a good rest between repetitions. This is the first time since my most recent illness that I have done the two length practice. It goes OK, I have a slight stiffness in my left shoulder and somehow this causes me to drift a little to the right, and consequently I catch the lane rope with my recovering arm a couple of times on the first few repeats, but as the muscles loosen and I focus on swimming down the black line of the lane marker, the problem is resolved. The session goes well and I am swimming the two lengths managing to maintain the same pace as I swam the one length repeats yesterday. The power in the stroke comes from the core muscles of the back and abdomen that propel the dolphin movement, the skill in the technique is keeping low to the water and still being able to breathe. Dolphins don't have this problem, as they breath through the blowhole on the top of their heads. Now there's a thought! After the fly there is just time for three 100m individual medleys before the pool closes in order to allow the attendants to put the inflatables in the water for the kids session at two o'clock. I drink tea and eat some sultana oaties in the cafe after changing, before calling in the supermarket to buy Norman some more tins and a few other bits and pieces, arriving home for three. I had planned to take the electric frying pan into the garden and make an outdoor paella, but the skies have clouded over so, after bringing in the whites and hanging my coloureds out, we settle for fish fingers chips and peas. It's quick and easy, whilst the fingers and chips are cooking in the oven, I slice up three large victoria plums and microwave them with some sweetener and then doctor a plain yogurt with sweetener and vanilla extract to make a custard. Norman has a couple of fish fingers and a few chips, which I add to his bowl of uneaten salmon and scrambled eggs, but he will only eat it after I have transferred it to my empty plate once I have finished my lunch. The plums and vanilla yogurt are very good and I have three large plums left in the punnet, so the same desert will feature tomorrow or perhaps Sunday. After lunch the effects of the swimming, walking and gardening catch up with me and I sleep for a couple of hours. When I get up, it is starting to spit with rain, so bring in the coloured washing and then open a small tin of dog food for Norman before taking him for his evening walk down to the bridge. On our way we are passed by a different young girl riding the same chestnut mare that passed us yesterday, when I comment to this effect, I am corrected, different girl and different horse! This chestnut is a gelding. The rider is the older sister of the girl yesterday, which shows my keen eye for horse flesh! When we get to the drain, the water is as high as I have ever seen it, fully a good two feet up on last week. The news reported that we have had the wettest summer for a hundred years, but fortunately Beverley has been spared the worst of it. Norman is starting to enjoy his walks again, motivated by lots of praise, it is almost a shame that his routine will be disrupted again next week when he goes back to Sarah's whilst I am on holiday in Holland. As we arrive home it starts to rain properly and I have just time to put out the bin for the collection tomorrow morning, before battening down the hatches. It is a quarter to eight, I give Norman some fresh water, bathe his eyes with a cold tea bag, before setting too and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom and then running the vacuum cleaner through the house. Despite putting his bed in my bedroom, out of the way, Normy follows me about as I work. It doesn't take too long, as the house is small, and by a quarter past nine everything is squared away again, and I can settle down with my book for an hour before bedtime. Norman is snoring happily in his basket as I write this blog. The forecast for the next four or five days is for fine, dry weather, with luck I will be able to leave both gardens in good order before my holiday.