Back to rain.  So the pond is looking fuller, and so would the big water butt if I'd remembered to close the tap after cleaning it out.  But while HM was getting thoroughly rained on on the Thames, we were in sunshine near Brighton.  Barbara treated us to a pub lunch - at the third attempt, choices 1 and 2 being full - and at all of them people were sitting outside swigging pints of beer.  (We sat inside and sipped Chilean merlot...)  We left home in drizzle/heavy showers, and drove back into dull, grey and damp, and it appears to have been raining all night.  Oh well, good enough - it's washing some of the duck shit off the terrace and the grass, and  gardening is off the agenda for a day or two.  So, some of the much delayed filing has finally been done, and I shall do some baking today to replenish freezer stocks.  But trust the kitchen ceiling light to pack up on a bank holiday weekend!  We have a sort of flying saucer contraption that looks quite smart, but is really not up to the job, so shall revert to an old-fashioned strip light.  When the electrical wholesalers re-open.  What do you bet this'll mean re-painting the ceiling?

The mallards are still spending long spells in the garden, so I guess she can't have started laying - this is pretty late.  The way she has been poking about under the bushes suggests that she still hasn't settled on a nest site.  I can't think that our garden is a lot of use: we have too many foxes, and I gather that grass snakes are partial to eggs.  Magpies are another threat.  But the same is true anywhere around here, I guess.

The longish drive to find a decent pub yesterday meant that the warning light came on during the drive home, and I had to fill the tank a day or two sooner than planned.  £82.10.  We are starting to save up errands so as to make multi-purpose journeys.  I always try to book dental appointments on days when I'm due in court, for example, since both are in the same town.  Similarly, bottles get taken for recycling when we have to go to the nearby bird seed and/or fish & chip shop - though arguably, the latter excursions could be done on foot!