Rain!

After a lazy start to the day, I cleaned the house, catching up with some jobs that needed doing badly! I had noticed that the windowsill in our bedroom was covered in dust and the tiny little black flies that arrive at this time of the year. With the windows open all the time, and the dry wind we've had recently, the sill needed a good clean!

I was all finished by 1pm and having a shower before Sophie arrived home. We'd decided to pay a visit to the new community shop in Walgrave that had just opened. They had a coffee machine and outdoor seating, so I suggested we go and see what it was like.

Before heading to the village we popped to Brixworth to take a parcel, and the small cafe opposite the row of shops was doing a roaring trade! I keep forgetting (I have no idea how) that it's the school holidays! On the way to Walgrave, we drove over Pitsford and I thought the water level would be really low because of the lack of rain, but it was looking lovely and full. Let's hope we don't have any hosepipe bans here!

The new shop looked lovely and the staff were delighted to see us and very friendly. We bought a bag of new potatoes, but there was a family installed on the bench seat outside having drinks and ice-creams so we left. It's a great asset to the village and as it's a community shop run by volunteers we all hoped it would do really well and be successful.

From the village, we drove to Kettering and popped into Costa and enjoyed a sandwich and coffee. I am noticing the price of things creeping up now - Keith and I shared an M&S sausage roll and it was £3.15! Altogether, our snacks came to almost £19! Hmmm!

In Tesco, we bought some things (Aperol for me, very important) and then I wanted to get my Dad's car washed. I bought a voucher in the garage shop, and we queued for ages, annoying Sophie who had taken precious time off from work to go out with us. I don't think it was the kind of afternoon she'd envisaged!

After waiting patiently for ages, Keith scanned the code and we moved forward into the carwash. Only nothing happened... we sat and waited, but it became obvious that it wasn't going to work, so we had to drive out, feeling a little bit silly! There was a queue waiting, so we gave up and went home!

This evening the sky turned really dark and we had rain! Hooray! Sophie and I played Scrabble and she cooked one of our favourite meals, the chicken and ham tangle pie. It was delicious as always and there was enough left over for her lunch tomorrow.

It was lovely to sit and watch the rain fall this evening, but I fear we may need a few more days of this to make any difference to the gardens!