Saturday 20th

It's been a busy week ............... 

The weather has carried on being dry and humid here - still no rain to speak of (and I was very glad they cancelled the fireworks at the Patronal Celebration at the church over the road) so it's still a nightly round of watering whatever I have the energy to do.......always the greenhouse but outside has to take it's turn. Was very annoyed to find that despite the enviromesh over the Brassica plants, there are holes in leaves, caterpillars and white-fly. The plants are looking very sad - not worth the effort at all I think.

Eldest Daughter and the two boys were here from Surrey and we packed in lots of trips including a meet up with the two Suffolk families on the beach in Felixstowe on Sunday. This was quite eventful because the children found a live .303 rifle bullet amongst the rock breakwaters. Youngest Granddaughter thought it was a pen and tried to write with it! The Archaeologist son was very calm and thought it safest to call police which is what they have to do if they find live ammunition during a dig. It was duly collected and taken away - just in case.

The August WI meeting in this village takes the form of a 'Grow, Cook and Sew  Show' but due to the family visit I didn't bake (and there are no vegetable classes) so just entered Strawberry Jam, Mango and Pepper Chutney and a Photograph of an Historic Building. Surprised to find I got 3 x 2nd places but, unlike Bacton Fayre, there are no prizes for individual classes at this show only cups or trophies for points overall.

(The cards are folded and paperclipped to start with so the judges don't see the names)

The show is open to villagers to have a look in the evening and there's a draw, tombola and other fund raising stalls too. There's never been anything like this at any other WI's I've belonged to so it was interesting to find out how it all worked. 

On Wednesday a man from Essex and Suffolk Water Company came to fit me a water meter which I hope will save me about £100 a year and the same saving for the sewerage charges which are paid to a different company but will now be based on water usage rather than on Council Tax Banding.

Thursday was hair-cut day - they've put their prices up yet again, even though it only takes her 15 minutes to do a quick clipper cut and trim the edges....Oh well - anywhere else would probably cost the same and require driving so I'll stick with them.

Once home I used the last two aubergines plus some of my onions, two tins of tomatoes and a courgette to make yet another batch of pasta sauce, which were soon portioned up and frozen. There's now plenty in the freezer to make a meal a week almost until Christmas! 

On Friday a man came from the building company to have a more detailed look at the work that is to be done in making me a new en-suite with drains into the mains and a radiator so I will no longer freeze in winter and worry about the Saniflo macerator system packing up. They hope to start around the middle of September and take about 3 weeks. I choose to go with a bigger building company who employ all the trades so in theory there won't be any hold ups. 

He wasn't sure about turning the old en-suite into a store room accessed from outside due to changed regulations with regard to the proximity of the heating oil tank. But I've known right from the start that the oil tank will need replacing and moving sometime so may need to get that done before a door is put in the back wall.

Apart from that I've been enjoying the European Multi-sport Championships on TV. So good to see GB getting medals in all sorts of sports - very different to the past when a medal was a rare thing. 

Another bit of Nanna stuff later today as it's Eldest Granddaughter's turn to visit and to stay overnight - on her own -  better find some craft things for her to do.

Have a good weekend whatever the weather

I shall be back one day next week

Sue