Toasty!

Today was forecast to be a very hot day.

I was up early and did as much as I could before the mercury started to rise. All of the doors and windows were opened to cool the house as much as possible. * Water butts were filled from the well and I ensured that the tomatoes and other veg crops were well watered. I then took my fishing gear out of the car and put it away in the store room ... I was far too lazy to do that last night.

It was then time to move on to motorcycling. I wheeled the Guzzi from the garage** and tucked her in the shade of the car port. I then settled in my favourite sunny spot,*** and gave my motorcycle boots a good clean and a coat of my home-made leather food.

All of the above were completed before 30% had risen.

More watering took place, before we tidied ourselves up and headed over to Alcester. I rode the Guzzi over to my local Motorcycle Dealer for its MOT.  30% picked me up in the car, and we then dropped in to see Dot 'n Dave.  We had a splendid couple of hours catching up on each others' news and sampling Dotty's freshly baked banana cake.

We headed home shortly before midday, lunched and then slept through the heat of the early afternoon.

30% took me back in to Alcester just before four o'clock to collect my bike. It had flown through the MOT.**** We also discussed my sickly CBR 600. It seems likely that it has suffered from modern fuel causing problems with the carburettors. It will need to be collected in their van, so I agreed to defer this until things calm down in the early Autumn.

So that just about sums up my efforts for Friday. As I listened to the evening news and learnt that the hottest temperature was recorded a few miles away in Astwood Bank; 34.7 ℃.

It's little wonder we've done very little.

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* With each heat wave we are getting better at keeping the house cool. First thing in the morning we open all of the windows and doors to let the early morning breeze blow through the house. As the temperature rises, we close the windows and curtains on the sunny side of the house. The house remains curtained all day, and it is only as the sunset draws near that we start to open curtains, windows and doors to let in the cooler evening air.

** This might not seem a particularly strenuous task, but I first needed to move the ride-on lawn mower, and then put it back afterwards. It is incredibly warm at the moment, and I'd rather do this in the cool of the early morning wearing shorts, than later in the day, dressed in motorcycling gear!

*** The little bench by the beech hedge that faces the veg patch and the orchard

**** One of the partners is a big Guzzi fan and he joked that he never failed a Guzzi ... At least, I think that he was joking?