Outings

Planted some manky looking old amaryllis bulbs and unexpectedly they both flowered.  Lasted about 3 days in the heat.

Not having been in the car or driven anywhere at all myself for ten weeks, I felt it was a kind of treat this week to go on a couple of outings. \None of these outings were 'essential travel' really.  But I made sure I 'stayed alert', as the illuminated roadside sign instruct me. En route to Sheffield via Snake Pass, we drove past huge numbers of parked cars and people presumably 'staying alert' while picnicking in the Pennines.  It is so beautiful there but we didn't stop to join them. We were going to Sheffield to pick up the remainder of Kate's belongings from her rented house.  This was not much fun; she has acquired huge amounts of stuff. And the terms of the contract require the room to be left perfectly clean and empty otherwise they might not get their deposit back. She was told to take a video of the room to prove this. The previous resident of the room before Kate hadn't paid much attention to this as, when we pulled the bed out to clean, we discovered discarded clothing and toenail clippings. Revolting. They've got a cheek these rental companies - when we arrived they'd been fitting a new bathroom and had turned the water off so we couldn't even go to the loo or have a cup of tea.  And yet she's been paying full rent and a fixed amount per month for bills.

Shady dog walk on Duke's Drive

Another more pleasant outing in the car this week was a short journey to the other side of town to walk the dog somewhere shady - like us she's not to keen on heat. Temperatures have soared here in the last few days after a weekend of high winds which nearly flattened my precious foxgloves and poppies. On Bank Holiday Monday we went to the Duke's Drive - a long straight shady path through mature woodlands which eventually, if you walk far enough, leads to Eccleston where the entrance to Eaton Hall, home of the Duke of Westminster can be found.  Anyway, having many entrances, the Duke allows us commoners to use this path and it is glorious.  Right now it is full of buttercups and cow parsley, honeysuckle and butterflies.

And I actually drove my own car one day this week on an trip to B&Q as I 'needed' some more compost, some tomato feed and various other garden essentials. Luckily, Mildred ( the name Kate has given the car) started first time and I hadn't forgotten how to drive. At B&Q, I was greeted by a young man in high-vis vest who informed me that I'd have to queue for at least 45 minutes to get in.   I turned around and left but noticed that the nearby 'Home and Bargain' was open for 'essential' purchases and there was no queue.  I spent an enjoyable half hour there purchasing bargain plants, seeds and bulbs as well as the compost I need to repot my tomato plant. It was fairly quiet and, except for a couple of strips of black tape by the check outs, no different from usual.  I was the only one in there wearing a mask and no one else seemed too bothered about social distancing.  I felt a bit of a prat really - probably wouldn't have bothered with the mask if Paul hadn't wanted me to.  He is still  very anxious about catching the virus.

Another highlight of the last week was a family photo quiz to celebrate my sister's birthday.  That was fun - I dug out old pictures and asked others to guess the date, place etc.  As we are now allowed to see up to six people, I'm looking forward to getting together for real.  We had planned a get-together in Liverpool in July for my sister's 60th but that's unlikely to go ahead now. At least there's hope on the horizon of some kind of meeting ‘