A non-Hodgepodge Wednesday post - 18/10/17

No Hodgepodge today as Joyce (of From this Side of the Pond) is taking a well earned break.  Just reading about her schedule often makes me feel tired!

But it's Wednesday and I usually blog today so a post is called for.

It's been quite a miserable day here today after some dry weather.  I actually managed to get my grass cut on Sunday.  It had grown quite long due to the alternating spells of sunny days followed by rain.  Each time I planned to cut it the rain came.  On Sunday we'd had a few dry days so I finally managed to get it done.  It took me ages but I'm relieved it's looking neat and tidy again.  Especially as the weather changed again on Monday.  We didn't get rain and London was fortunately not within the path of storm Ophelia which had devastating effects on Ireland but we did have an eerie afternoon.  The sky suddenly went really dark with an almost red  glow to it which was later explained as being due to sand from the Sahara being drawn over the country due to the storm!

This storm came 25 years after The Great Storm of 1987.  A BBC weather presenter, Michael Fish, said during a forecast on the day: "Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way... well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!".  The storm went on to claim 19 lives.  It took down the a tree in our garden.  But although it seems that Michael Fish believed the caller was referring to Hurricane Floyd which was approaching Florida at the time, he has never been allowed to forget what was seen as a major gaffe.

Being a wet day today I spent it at home catching up on chores but also finding time for some reading.  My current read is "The Trouble with Goats and Sheep" by Joanna Cannon which I'm enjoying.  It's set in the summer of 1976 which I remember well.  The summer was incredibly hot and we seemed to go ages without any rain and the drought was beginning to be a real problem before the hot spell broke.  I was about to start my final year at school so was at home for most of it.

Hmm looking back over this post it's easy to see why Brits have a reputation for always talking about the weather!

I could talk about Nathan but I haven't seen him since last Wednesday and won't see him until Saturday this week.  Thank goodness for Whatsapp and Lifecake.  Although it's very easy to get caught up looking at all the photos and videos and then realising that dinner plans will need to be changed as there's not enough time left to prepare the meal you'd planned!  Quick cook chicken and bacon with pasta tonight, marinaded pork chops tomorrow.

Unless I get hooked on this little man again

Friday's Fave five 24/2/17

 

It's Friday so it must be time to join Suzanne for Friday's Fave Five. Click here for full details.

Here are my blessings and thoughts on this week:

 

1)  So grateful for the supportive network this blogging world is.  I posted on my Hodgepodge post this week about my brother's health issues and the response from all those who visited my blog was wonderful.   Thank you to all those who will be offering up prayers.

2)  Thankful that storm Doris swept through pretty quickly and for us didn't cause any major problems.  Unfortunately at least one person died and several were badly injured due to the high winds bringing down trees and roof tiles etc.

3)  A surprise visit from our eldest son.  He was trying to return home to Nottingham from Swansea on the day of Doris and could only get as far as London.  We were more than happy to provide him with dinner and a bed for the night.  He's now safely back in Nottingham.

4)  Glad that I managed to get my grass cut the day before Doris dumped a whole load of rain on it.  It's the first cut of the year so it was already quite long and hard to cut but if I'd missed that opportunity it would have been even harder.  Especially as today we have some nice sunshine!

5)  Social networking.  I know there is a lot of negative stuff out there at the moment, which I try to just ignore, but it enables me to keep track of my future grandson's progress and my son and DIL's new babies - Joe and Ness, retired greyhounds.  Apparently the baby is about the size of a Barbie doll right now although I did suggest to my daughter that he ought to be compared to Ken or as she responded GI Joe!  Just glad to know he's ok.

So a good week for me.  I also got more walking done and we've started to decorate the next room on the to do list.  My knitting project also made progress.  I might have to have a relaxing weekend!  Hope you do too.

Tired today! 23/6/16

I doubt it made the international news but I'm sure everyone in the UK is aware of the awful storms we had here in London last night.  The thunder and lightening were pretty impressive and loud!  The rain was relentless and the air was very humid.

Consequently I did not sleep well.

We were not subject to any flooding although there was a bit of dampness on the cellar floor, nothing out of the usual.  Our nearby station of Manor Park was flooded though and that disrupted the overground train services this morning.  My son was not impressed.  Sounds like he ended up walking to Stratford to get on the underground.  This was after he'd also endured a cold shower as a power outage in the night had disrupted the timer on the boiler!

Some areas were badly affected with several polling stations having to be relocated due to flooding and the travel disruption has been quite widespread.  I think it's a bit harsh when everyone complains about how we don't cope well with extreme weather here in the UK but hey it's EXTREME.  We don't usually get a month's rainfall in one night.  It's hard to prepare for that.  I'm really glad I got my grass cut yesterday though.  It's probably grown an inch overnight.

Fortunately our internet is working again today.  It was out of service from about 6 last night until after the power cut.  Hubby was frustrated enough this morning at trying to set up a mobile hotspot on his phones so that he could hook his work tablet up through that to enable him to get a piece of work done urgently.  If there was no internet I think smoke would be coming out of his ears!

Smoke was nearly coming out of mine as I had to do most of the IT sorting for him in my tired state (he is so last century on electrical gadgets) and on what is supposed to be his day off!

My sense of humour has just been restored though.  In connecting up his phone and tablet I had to unplug the microwave.  I just heard him trying to warm up his coffee and the predictable grumbling when it wouldn't work!  I think I will definitely have to replace the Mr Grumpy mug!  (Go here to understand.)