What a difference a day makes.

Saturday started calm and dry with no winds. The Ship’s Dog seemed in fine form, so we did our usual short circuit to the trees and grassy area for him to sniff around, eat grass, then detoured on the way home and did the other circuit we sometimes do. The weather was pleasant, he was walking fine. I, on the other hand, started to regret the extra circuit on the way home as my leg had started to hurt. It comes and goes with no rhyme or reason except that when it’s cold, it hurts more. More arthritis?

After a breakfast of toast and coffee (my favourite breakfast) I popped to the closest supermarket for a little shopping. I’d checked online, and the closest one had some items I wanted that were cheaper there than my usual shop. Shopping completed without incident; I made my way home. The weather was glorious: not warm, but lovely sunshine with a gentle breeze and washing was soon out on the rigging.

The bathroom, unusually, was warm and sunshine poured in through the over-large window. Time for a bath! I hate bathing and much prefer a shower, though as regular readers know, the shower is out of action due to a leak. It’s now been almost 4 weeks since we’ve been able to use the shower! One the one hand I’m mad as hell, on the other the disruption will be awful and I’m hoping they’ll leave it until we leave, hopefully this summer. Anyway…

Sunday we were all woken up by torrential rain and high winds buffeting The Ship. Normally, we’d open windows once we’re up, but not Sunday. The rain abated now and again but the winds were with us all day and our area was on ‘Active Amber Alert’ for the whole day. The Ship’s Dog didn’t get a walk until well into the afternoon, and he spent the day moping, and barking each time someone’s recycling crate blew up the street and then back down again moments later. What kind of idiot puts out their recycling on a Saturday, with weather warnings in place, when the bin day isn’t until Tuesday? Another neighbour had her overloaded dustbin out on the street despite her garden entrance being within a foot of where she leaves her bin. Unsurprisingly her rubbish ended up all over the street, and once it wasn’t top-heavy anymore, it blew over and continued to spew its rubbish into the street. I love it here…

Later, I braved the wind and rain and did the rest of my grocery shopping, avoiding bits of tree branches and detritus. It didn’t take long and I made my way back to the lifeboat only to find some git had done some minor damage to it. Ooh I was mad! I’d moored well within my bay, as had the adjacent vehicle, however they obviously hit my vehicle on reversing out, dented my door slightly, and left white paint marks on it. What they didn’t do was report it to the store, nor leave their insurance details. At times like these, I’m glad my vehicle is almost 10 years old! I returned home, not in the best of mood only to have the wind whip the door fully open, out of my grasp, and rip my fingernail almost down to the quick and bruise the tip of my finger. Perfect.

The Deckhand had been thinking of continuing his studies and doing an MSc but is now rethinking (thank goodness). I’m hopeful we can move from this area soon; somewhere closer to where work might be, somewhere cheaper… On paper it’s a nice place but in reality it’s not. There's a lot of 'light' polution - no dark skies, road polution, and noise polution. There’s an awful lot of crazy drivers here; drivers who think road signs and traffic lights are for other people, an awful lot of crime especially knife crime, and an awful lot of something else that I can’t say as it’s not politically correct in PC-mad UK.

Monday, the wind has abated somewhat though we’re still on alert, and now we’re on Yellow Alert for snow and ice too. Spring can’t come soon enough lol.

Have a good week, and be safe out there.