I just spent an hour writing a post that discussed ways of making water company executives take notice that we are serious about stopping water leaks in our mains and sewage in our waterways. It stopped slightly short of an unhinged rant, but when I started looking for illustrations of Victorian cholera outbreaks and hanging, drawing and quartering, I realised that it might not have stopped short enough.

So I started again. It’s lunchtime on Monday and Julia is just back from an extra stint at the tearoom. That’s probably a good time to have a break and restart today’s post. Today is a Bank Holiday in the UK. It means some people have time off work. Some don’t, as they have to provide services for those who do. And retired people like me don’t really notice the difference.

This morning, after the recent rain, I noticed our back lawn is beginning to green up. It’s hardly the miracle of the karoo, but it is nice to see.

Wooden Pens

This afternoon, after cheese and tomato sandwiches (the tomato crop has been bountiful this year, though cosmetically challenged) we assembled a press that Julia has bought for putting her turned wood pens and keyrings together.  All we needed to do was put the handle to the press and bolt it on. There were no instructions on how to do it and eventually I used the handle to persuade the mechanism to unfold and all became clear.

Taking inspiration from Billy Mann we are now looking at producing pendants from wood. It’s still August and she is already producing things for Christmas. Whatever happened to sitting back and watching the world pass by?

I would say “another wooden pen, but it isn’t, it’s one of the previous pair, but on its own