Whew! What a scorcher! It’s been a great week – warm and sunny with rising temperatures. Friday and Saturday were the first “Let’s wear shorts” day for me this season and on Friday I celebrated the great weather with a lovely cycle around the local lanes and bye ways. Afterwards, the fine weather was just about perfect for lying in the hammock contemplating the lovely blue sky contrasted with the bright burning yellow of the blossom on the laburnum tree. Perfect.
What wasn’t perhaps so “perfect” was the air conditioning in Penelope’s car which revealed that it was f****d just as the temperature began to climb into the high 70s (which, for the UK, is a positive sweltering heatwave). The fault was found to be a small leak in the condenser which we’ve now just had replaced at our local garage. I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised that now the weather is predicted to provide lashings and lashings of rain and cooler temperatures over the next few days. Sod’s law.
I suppose it shouldn’t be a great surprise but I can confirm that jet lag gets worse the older we get. It’s now coming up to nearly two weeks since we’ve been home and it’s only in the last day or so that we’ve begun to feel more or less “normal”, whatever that is.
We did have quite a surprise on the morning following our first night back. The flight from Boston had been fine – smooth and more or less on time and we had exit row seats so plenty of leg room. We got home just before noon, had a quick shower and a nap. We then muddled through the rest of the day until finally, sometime after 8.00 we gave in and retired to bed.
The next morning there was a knock on the front door and we were greeted by a policeman, a community liaison officer. He wanted to know if we’d seen or heard anything suspicious during the night as there had been a fire at a neighbouring house. No one was injured, fortunately, but apparently a fire truck arrived, sirens blaring at about 2.00 in the morning. There was also some sort of explosion as there were gas cylinders involved and there is some suggestion that the fire may have been set maliciously.
Not only had we not heard or seen anything, we told him, but we had slept soundly through all the excitement.
I had a lovely afternoon out on Saturday of last week – a friend had a spare ticket and kindly asked if I fancied going to the rugby match in Northampton. It was the local side, Northampton Saints, playing a team from Ireland, Connacht, in a knock-out match for qualification for next year’s European Championship. This is where the big money is for club rugby – a good European run generates a lot of revenue – so it was a “big” match.
It was a great afternoon out. Although it was pelting rain as we left the village, by the time the match started it was dry and mainly sunny. The ball was a bit skiddy in the conditions but the rugby was good and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Fortunately, Northampton persevered and won 21 – 15. This victory kept their European hopes alive and last Friday evening they played their final match against Stade Francais Paris. A narrow 23 to 22 victory means they will be playing in the top flight European competition next year earning the big bucks. I wonder if English clubs will be excluded from these sorts of competitions once Brexit takes hold and we “leave” Europe?
Courtesy of Nick and Lucy and in celebration of Penelope’s upcoming birthday (today for all of you who have, once again, neglected to get the card off in time, i.e., me), we were off on Friday evening for a performance by Madeleine Peyroux at the Warwick Arts Centre. I think it was probably Nick who introduced us to her music many, many years ago and we’ve always enjoyed her style – very smooth and mellow. Friday’s performance was very nice and she still has the most gorgeous smooth and mellow voice although I did think that perhaps the half-full Butterworth Hall at the Arts Centre was perhaps not the best venue in which to enjoy her music. It’s very much of the style you might expect to find in a bar or club or, at the very least, a somewhat more intimate venue. Nevertheless, we did enjoy some of that intimacy from our middle of the front row seats!
We’re looking forward to a week away with Nick, Lucy and Annabelle this coming week. We’re all trouping down to Cornwall for five days in a chalet in a forest. It’s been a long time since we’ve been down to Cornwall and we hope to get to a couple of places we’ve wanted to visit for some time. Looking forward to it!
And finally, a few photos of the flowers and blossom which provided some considerable enjoyment over the past few days. The view of the laburnum was, indeed, taken from a horizontal position in the hammock on Friday afternoon. There almost isn’t any room for the leaves there is so much blossom. And, although you can’t see it, the whole tree was alive with buzzing as various pollinators carried out their tasks.
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Much love to you all,
Greg