Drumroll please

Being a linear person, I have to stick with chronology. On Sunday, 22 Oct., I took Paddy on a 6.5 mile hike with my old hiking club along the River Roe.

The golf club has been closed the past week, and today, due to rain, so the river was swollen. I took Paddy, with his harness on to reduce pulling, but he still pulls. It was a long time to be attached to a draft horse cum spaniel.

Of course he wanted to swim the whole time, but there were only a few places where I judged that to be safe.

I met some lovely people.

One couple, originally from India, gave me a great recipe for baking aubergines with chile and tumeric. A young Polish man shared his chocolate with me after I told him about a massive chocolate bar Marek brought me back from Poland.

On 23 & 24 Oct. the painters came and painted my new rooms and hung the wallpaper. So just a reminder of the old conservatory, with its acrylic roof, rotting wood frames and Bigness (11 x 22 feet).

I have divided it into two spaces and here is the sunroom:

More work to be done but this is a taster of what is going on. You can see I've painted two of the three windows into the kitchen. There is also a door into the kitchen and French doors into the dining room. All together, 94 panes of glass. I have been scraping paint off both sides of all of those panes and cleaning them. Also sanding and cleaning the mullions. Then filling with polyfill where necessary, sanding, wiping and painting. Time consuming to say the least.

Also four trips to IKEA to sort out the shelves for the storage room. Also two trips to B&Q for various other bits needed for this project, and two trips to Argos to sort a light fixture. SO time consuming getting all the finishing bits.

Thursday 26 Oct. I went to hear the US ambassador to the UK speak. I'd say pretty generic advice to women about Speaking Up and Finding Mentors.

The weekend just ended (27-28 Oct) was a LOT of cleaning and painting. Also lots of people visiting to see the new rooms, so quite a bit of socialising. One friend came and cleaned the window panes on the French doors and the door to the kitchen, bless her.

The past two weeks have seen some biblical levels of rain so the course has been mostly closed. I've been to the driving range twice to keep my swing in order.

Second half of Oct.