Dog days

 For the last week or so it has been too hot to do much but sit and sweat.  Fortunately, the last couple of days have been cooler, but humid and with very little breeze.  We’ve been under warning of storms and torrential rain, but aside from a few rumbles and a few drops, the forecast rain has so far failed to materialise.  The water butts are empty, of course, so we’ve had to resort to tap water for the garden.  I’ve managed to do the watering in the morning coolth, and today have done some hacking back of leggy shrubs, dead-heading roses and annuals and stuff like that.  

Martyn has been sitting in his study with the fan on, model-making for the 27th canton of Switzerland up in the loft, and it has even been cool enough for him to get up the ladder today, though not for very long.  He has turned out some really impressive models from scratch, designing the elevations on screen, then printing them on card for assembly.  Skilful stuff: I lack the patience.

The wasp man came and did his stuff on Monday, but there are still some wasps buzzing around the entrances to the nest.  We’ll give it till this coming Monday as he suggested, but it looks as if it may need a repeat treatment.  We need rid of them before the contractors come to replace the gutters and stuff, which ought to be in the coming few weeks.

We are not lucky with doorbells, as I think I may have reported in the past!  Another one started becoming kind of hit or miss, sometimes not ringing at all, occasionally following the usual bing-bong with a kind of tortured shriek, and occasionally starting ringing and not stopping.  So with undying gratitude to the beneficent, generous Mr Bezos (who must be worried sick by his dreadful financial situation) we’re now on bell N°5 of our 13-year tenancy.