That's the way the cookies make crumble!

Get up at ten to eight, let Norman out and then make breakfast. It's a brighter day outside, so once we have eaten, I wash and dress and drive to Cherry to collect the other two dogs. The place where we park on Newbald Road is still boggy after all the rain and the radio tells me that the river Ouse has flooded York again. I manage to find a patch of firm ground to park up and then we are off into the woods. The sun is shining and Teddy takes off like a rocket, while Normy tags along behind myself and Dolly. The kids have been throwing sticks to knock conkers off the horsechessnut trees, and there are bits of wood and opened shells lying about everywhere on the ground. It's nice to know that ancient pastimes still persist. When the sun is not hidden by clouds, it is pleasantly warm and so I decide to try to mow the lawns at Two Riggs when we get back. The grass is still quite wet when we get there, but the petrol mower gets through it OK, and they couldn't be left until next week without the grass getting knee high. We arrive back in Tickton for twelve, and although I feel a little tired, decide to go for a swim and see how I feel once I've warmed up. Thursday is aqua aerobics day and the "wave machine" have half the pool, so I share a double lane with four other swimmers, but still manage to warm up with 400m backstroke, using the centre when I need to overtake. The tiredness has vanished by the time I'm thoroughly warmed up and I feel OK, two of the other swimmers have left and so by timing my swims as they come in to the end of the lane, I am able to do 8 x 50m butterfly and then 400m freestyle and 400m breaststroke. Warming down on 4 x 100m easy Individual medleys. After showering and changing, I drink tea and eat the last three of my oaties in the cafe, before driving home. It starts to rain and I meditate for an hour and then share the last of the lamb casserole with Norman. Sarah phones to ask if I will collect Louis, she has come down with a bug, one of the hazards of working in a health centre. They are full of sick people! I collect Louis at half past five and take him to Sarah's, she is still in bed, I ask if she needs anything but she says they are OK and Alice is making dinner for them, so I drive home and take Norman down the lane for his evening walk. Fortunately the rain has stopped, but it is cool and damp now the sun has set, Normy has settled back into his routine after my holiday and he walks home off the lead, stopping now and then for a pat. We get back for a quarter past seven, and I knock up a fresh batch of oaties and then experiment by making an apple crumble with my last Bramley apple. I slice it thinly and lay it in layers on a greased ovenware dish, sprinkle it with cinnamon, sweetener and raisins and then top it with the oatie crumbs from my biscuit jar. I put it in the centre of the oven to bake, whilst I roll and cut the oaties. They take half an hour on the top shelf, and so I guess the crumble must have had three quarters of an hour by the time the alarm tells me the oaties are ready. It looks and smells OK when it comes out of the oven with my biscuits, so I set it to cool and will test it later. After clearing away the baking things, I make a pot of tea and some cheese and salami sandwiches on rye bread and take these into the Garden Room, where I do a puzzle. Earlier in the day I rang Hull Central Library to renew my books, I haven't been in much of a reading mood since my holiday, but I guess I will start one tomorrow. About ten, I finish a particularly fiendish puzzle, and then test my crumble. It is fine, but I wish I hadn't used up all my sweetener or I could have made a vanilla yogurt custard to go with it. To bed for eleven.