The solar eclipse

I waved Sophie off to the gym this morning and went back to bed for an hour, which was bliss. It's so lovely to have this midweek break! When I went downstairs to make myself a coffee, Keith was having problems with the house computer. The screen had wiggly lines on it, and I said that it really seemed to be on its way out.

We swapped the screen for the one that was on my Dad's computer, but it was the same, so it was obviously the computer itself. We then spent over an hour mucking about with my Dad's old computer, which was slow and made a whirring noise! I think we're going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new one! It meant I had to install the Microsoft Word and Excel software onto my laptop, and we had to try and remember passwords for Keith's Facebook account and email. It was a pain!

We drove to Sophie's office at lunchtime and took her to a nearby Greggs for lunch. We managed to get to the café just in time as hordes of local workers arrived shortly afterwards! We picked out sandwiches (Sophie and me) and sausage rolls (Keith) with a side order of potato wedges. Sophie and I enjoyed a matcha each, and the food was delicious and good value, which probably explained the long queues!

Before taking Sophie back to work, we popped into a nearby bathroom showroom to get some inspiration for the en suite, which is badly in need of replacing. The tiles in there are cracked (as they're the wrong ones), and the whole room is horrible! We saw some lovely showers, and the man we spoke to said that they would design the en suite for us if we sent them the measurements and what we wanted. I want a bigger walk-in shower and to move the loo and sink to the other wall.

I liked this... almost a wet room

We dropped Sophie off, returned home, and I went out again to see my Mum. Although it's been hot today, I decided to take her out for a drive again. We took the scenic route home so I could get my hair grip, and Keith and  I moved some glass decanters on the windowsills in the conservatory out of the sun just in case. I was worried that the glare of the sun could heat them up and cause a fire. This threat of fires is uppermost in our minds at the moment, and I have never known the gardens and fields to be so parched.

I got back into the car (I'd left the air conditioning on so it was blissfully cool) and we drove into town via Holcot, Pitsford reservoir (no ice cream van again), Brixworth and the new road over to Duston. I then drove past my old workplace to show Mum and saw Sara walking to her car. She didn't see me, but she looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Before taking Mum back, we enjoyed a McFlurry each, which was perfect for such a hot day. 

I dropped Mum back and returned home to do very little. By now, it was hot, and I didn't have the energy to make myself porridge for my breakfast tomorrow! Plus, it would have made me warm, as tomorrow is set to be the hottest day of the week with a weather warning in place. Phew!

Sophie arrived home from work, and we said we were going to watch the solar eclipse from the layby on the single-track road near the village. We left at 6:00pm, taking our colander and a sheet of paper with us!

We parked up after a short argument between Keith and me. He kept asking where we were going, and I had parked in the shade of some trees with the sunlight filtering through. We could then try and capture the eclipse on the sheet of paper using the colander.

The countryside was looking beautiful, but why did it have to be so hot and dry? I had looked up the eclipse timings and knew that it would be happening from about 6:15pm until 7:15pm. While we waited, we had a good look about, and I noticed some sinister-looking cans littered about...

Nitrous oxide used for inhaling

We saw at least three cans, and I wanted to try and dispose of them safely, but Keith wouldn't let me touch them. It was obvious that youngsters are using the layby to inhale the gas, which is very dangerous.

We also amused ourselves by trying to see the beginnings of the eclipse, and we failed miserably.

   

As we neared 7:15pm, we noticed that it was getting a little darker and the shadows on the fields had deepened. However, we all thought it was a bit of an anticlimax, to be honest, and the colander didn't seem to work for us!

We set off for home, and Olive's lights came on, so there must have been a lessening of sunlight. We hadn't thought to buy the special glasses to see the eclipse safely, so we were a little disappointed! The next one will happen in 2050, and I will be 82! I do remember the 1999 eclipse, and we had a children's day nursery at the time, so we took them all outside to experience it.

Back home, we relaxed with a drink for half an hour and then enjoyed cold roast chicken with salad and crusty bread. It's back to the grind tomorrow!