Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

Nice car Farway. Hope it's one with cheap road tax.

More rain overnight 😲 there are shades of green, just a tad, on some fields.

Crossed the moors early to go and buy some sandals, like you do, and had a lovely most of the day being sidetracked. The village/town had a roadworks and diversion which along with the cloud meant quiet and parking spaces. Might go back again just for the outing as everywhere else is heaving and annoying.

So beware of the lynton area if you were thinking of going Dusty. The diversion has caused traffic round all the tiny toads.

Just jam making today from some supermarket apples that didn't taste good so chopped and frozen and blackberries. That's going to be the way this year I think. Discounted supermarket fruit because no one seems to have any, it's all dried up.

Dustyevsky

Farway: My car should be in the G World record book for items failed on MOT. 😮 The lights worked and that's the best bit. Both rear coil springs broken, exhaust shot, emission kills Polar bears stone dead, seat belt fixing corroded, WD 40 Gold medal for rust & corrosion…..

Well at least you know you had the maximum it was capable of giving. 🤗

OT, but Karma or just weird? The A & E stuff last weekend has left a2011 Hyundai, with years MOT, without a driver. That is now my next car, once insurance etc sorted.

IMO it's synchronicity, and I've experienced it at varying levels, as child, teenager, and adult. Expressions like, "God will provide," and "When one door closes, another opens," must stem from it. It's one reason why I believe we exist in a kind of simulation, like a very advanced (and long! 😄) role-playing game.

Anyway, it seems the 'game' has supplied an excellent brand of car. It could've been a…. (better not say! 😇 )

Our old jalopy has just made it back from Bristle, where we picked up the GCs at the coach station. DD's big bus, half it's age, is in for over £1500 worth of repairs. Again, better not ID it, but French with 7 seats is a good clue! 😱

AS serendipity or synchronicity would have it, Rosemoor are hosting giant Lego models just now, so one of the finer days with the CGs will involve a trip over there. Lucky, because they're too old to believe it's an adventure park with a few flowers nowadays! 😉

https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor/whats-on/summer-holidays

OT: It's been sunnier here than in Bristle, but some heavy rain is forecast to return in the early hours. 🙂

PS. Is the bog fixed, or are you still expecting a knock on the door from the Khazi Kops?

Dustyevsky

2p:So beware of the lynton area if you were thinking of going Dusty. The diversion has caused traffic round all the tiny toads.

Thanks for the warning. There's nothing except the cliff railway that would excite the boys, and Mrs Dusty's vertigo rules that out! We couldn't even get through our own village this morning, but I avoided the tiny roads and went a round-about way by main routes. It cost about 15 mins extra and saved my sanity. 😇

wort

da da 🎉finally my very first dahlia Cafe au Lait. Photo this morning with the overnight rain on it.
Dgson said some of his Tomatoes are turning yellow, no such signs on mine.

Yesterday was dull, temps are right back down so a walk to supermarket spec store, was taken with brolly which wasn’t needed and a jacket that was on and off.

Farway good luck with your new car, sad that it came to you via such a route. But if it serves you as well as your old car you will do well.

2p shame your toms have blossom end rot, afraid I don’t have advise, total novice at this Tom pampering.

Dusty that Lego day sounds just the ticket for the dgkids,my dgson would have loved it when he was little.

Dustyevsky

I'll start with a photo of our Merryweather Damson's entire crop, though to be fair, it's till tiny, and I shouldn't have let it set any fruit! 😔 It's in the chicken orchard. Although the hen's water dispenser has been emptied by it regularly, it's still struggled.

The other plum of uncertain identity, fruiting nearby, is doing well, but as usual, about 1/3 of the fruit are going bad and falling. ☹️

Gentle rain is still falling here on and off, and it looks as if we had a decent amount overnight. With more in the forecast, there should be a quick recovery in the grass, but the trees will probably still look the worse for wear. We noticed yesterday how much more parched the land was in Somerset, towards Bristol, where it looked very autumnal. Speaking of drought, I notice the hosepipe ban thread has been quietly edited. 🤐

Yesterday, we stopped-off to hand in our planning application for formal recognition of our garden, but we couldn't speak to a member of the planning team, or pay. There were 64 A4 sheets in the envelope! That was one reason we wanted to do it online via the Planning Portal, before computer said, 'No.' It's obvious the council hate direct applications by 'amateurs,' like ourselves, so they go out of their way to be obscure about matters like payment. We have an email this morning telling us a message and a reference number will follow in due course….and woe betide us if anything's missing! Two strikes, and it's another £50 😢

Stunning dahlia, wort. 😍 Is that a Thunbergia photobombing behind it?

Farway

Rain has arrived, enough to rinse the dust off anyway, not enough to water plants.

Wort, at last, your Cafe opened. And it's a cracker. A word of caution if I may, one of the "branches" of mine collapsed in the breeze, with the weight of the head I guess. With hindsight they needed more support than I provided 😫

2P Nice car Farway. Hope it's one with cheap road tax. No such luck, I was gobsmacked, my old one was £35 a year, this one is £170 a year 😱. Or maybe that is cheap tax to some? I've been spoilt with my old baby diesel. Insurance was C250, new one is closer to £600, or even more if one is mug enough. TBH with my miles it's still cheaper than a taxi, but a close call I'd say, and for the convenience of course.

Dusty PS. Is the bog fixed, or are you still expecting a knock on the door from the Khazi Kops? Still needs me to fiddle with it, new washers arrived but with everything else going on around me, a flushing bog is on the lower priority. I've stopped it chucking my metered water away but needs good sorting out and I've no time at the moment.

AS serendipity or synchronicity would have it, Rosemoor are hosting giant Lego models just now, so one of the finer days with the CGs will involve a trip over there. Lucky, because they're too old to believe it's an adventure park with a few flowers nowadays! RHS Wisley did same a few years back, 2019, and the GC loved it. But they've always like Wisley, probably because we've always taken them and they could just run about with lots of space

Pic at end with pair of GC at Wisley Lego 2019. DGS was disappointed because the bricks were glued together, no doubt he, and many otters, had thought of increasing their personal Lego collection.

No gardening today, I'm support assistant for DS hospital taxi this afternoon & same tomorrow. In between car nonsense, insurance etc etc. I think I'll be glad to see the back of August

Pics, rain on the toms first, the Lego in glasshouse at Wisley, 2019

twopenny

With the rain and August holidays I've no chance of a swim and it's happily wet in the garden so won't be doing much there. I've 5 tubs of wet pruning to get to the tip and the washing up water to go on the compost to try and get it going, rat be gone, and that's my excitement for the day.

Oh and Dusty reminds me to collect the rest of the plums if they haven't been infested or dropped.

Bummer about the car costs Farway but sometimes you've just got to take a hit because of circumstances 🫤 Mine is £20 road tax so if you're able to swap for an i10 .........

I've got phone calls to make re physio, equipment return, heating and the AA who've decided to up the cost to stupid level as a reward for my long standing custom so none of that's going to bring a smile to my face! And my phone is playing up!!

Do you think these things across our link are all part of the same union? 😬

I'm really pleased for you Wort 😃 that's a superduper flower there 🏆

Dustyevsky

2P Nice car Farway. Hope it's one with cheap road tax.

No such luck, I was gobsmacked, my old one was £35 a year, this one is £170 a year 😱. Or maybe that is cheap tax to some?

It's difficult to understand the reasoning behind the costs. Our wee auto is a 1.6, and the tax is £310, so obviously the government would prefer it crushed and replaced. But it exists, it's still reliable, and there's an environmental cost in replacing it, especially if the new one comes across the sea by dirty transport, from a dirty producer. Not naming names! 😉

Useful amounts of rain fell here overnight, and heavy showers continue, so I think the fire risk has reduced greatly. We shall be dryish this afternoon, so perhaps a visit to Rosemoor is in order. Love the pose of your girl GC in the photo, Farway. Older GC's body language might just be saying "I'm not with her!" 😂

I see the British Baloney Corp is suggesting we might have flash floods next…..or there again, there might be a September heatwave too. Take your pick.

Here are our Cardiff Queen chillies I'll admit to buying partly for the name. Conjures up images I'll not describe further….😉 However, they're not particularly 'hot,' though they are prolific.

Dustyevsky

Slight problem on the hedgehog feeding front! 😱

Farway

Had more rain, just short but heavy showers which left some puddles. May even get a splash later when I'm out on Hospital friendly face duty

2P the AA who've decided to up the cost to stupid level as a reward for my long standing custom so none of that's going to bring a smile to my face! The person I'm buying Hyundai from had RAC renewal due for £244 😱 Found in time & stopped. I have found a breakdown compare site and have some from £20, which seems a bit daft to me, more sensible & realistic, with home start etc around £60, maybe you should go and compare some quotes? 😁

No gardening, honestly sounds like I'm in similar chase around boat to 2P, has to be done and I'd rather be counting beans or summat.

Dusty We shall be dryish this afternoon, so perhaps a visit to Rosemoor is in order. Love the pose of your girl GC in the photo, Farway. Older GC's body language might just be saying "I'm not with her!" 😂 Hope you make Rosemoor, my Wisley visit days may be over now, but never say never Girl GC is a poser to order, boy GC was just getting into grunting teenager stage then. He has improved with age.

Only garden news is on Horticultural DGD, doing her degree at Gloucester. She has Summer garden job at Sudeley Castle. Somewhere I've never been, but looking on the web site it seems a spectacular place & worth a visit if near there