I'm addicted.

I've known for a long time that I have an addictive personality.

My mother was a heavy smoker and embarrassing when drunk, this was enough to put me off cigarettes and although I do drink alcohol it's usually on Mother's day and my birthday and I only ever have one drink.

The one thing that I can never refuse is a good book, or even an indifferent book. By the time I was at secondary school I was reading The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins, I was put in detention for that and carried on reading the book whilst serving the detention.

I was once told proudly by a young relative of Steve's that he'd never read a book, I gave him a book about Valentino Rossi the racing driver who he admired and he read the book!

All four of my children read for pleasure, some more avidly than others.

I read constantly throughout the day, every time I finish a chore I pick up my kindle and read. I can no longer see well enough to read books so thank goodness for the kindle. I have mine set to a very large print and can race through a book in a day or two.

I will read almost anything though I don't enjoy Mills and Boon romance books. I always used to finish a book however little I was enjoying it but I no longer do that. I've decided I don't have enough years left to waste time on a book I don't enjoy.

I usually read two books at a time, I started doing this when I lived in a house, I'd have a book upstairs and one downstairs. I now live in a bungalow and I flit between various books on my kindle. I recently bought three books as a birthday gift for my daughter, Women and Power by Mary Beard, Invisible Women by Caroline Crisco Perez and Why I'm no longer Talking by Reno Edda -Lodge. Of course I had to download all of these to my kindle.

Rain at last.

We finally have a decent amount of rain, nice and gentle, the sort that soaks into the soil and nourishes it. You can almost hear the plants breathing a sigh of relief as the soil relaxes around their roots.

If it carries on for a few days I shall scatter some seed on the bald patches in my garden.

One of the bungalows here has a lovely green lawn, I assume they have watered it despite the hosepipe ban. I have a green stripe at the top end of my lawn, it's where the water meter is, so I'm wondering if there is a leak.

Bee happy!

I though I had an invasion of wasps but on closer inspection they are bees.

I think they are Ivy bees which are a type of mining bee, they are not aggressive though Beano isn't convinced.

They are on both sides of my front path and are now in the back garden as well. They have burrowed into the soil, they must be strong as the earth is dry and compacted.

I'm happy to leave them alone, I'm assuming they will hibernate or die off when winter arrives, although I'm not sure which. I will wait and see.

Giving a talk.

I was asked last Wednesday if I would give a talk today about living on a narrow boat. It's not something I'm very good at but it was only was only a small group of about 15 people so not too scary.

Everyone seemed interested, the two people who I thought might be awkward weren't there which was a relief and there were lots of questions afterwards.

I can't see me making a career as an after dinner speaker but I'm relieved it wasn't a complete failure.

I told people about the canals we'd travelled on, about some of the people we'd met during our time on the canals and told a couple of funny stories about things that had happened.

RIP Dolly

Dolly Patron has died, I saw her perform at the NEC, she was fantastic.

Dry at night

Last time I saw my daughter and the children she announced that BOTH the littlies were now dry at night and out of nappies.

I was suitably impressed and said " everyone who. is no longer in nappies put y your hand up. All six children immediately raised their hands. This caused lots of giggles from everyone. 

if just been to the bank and withdrawn some cash, this included six, £5 notes. I solemnly handed a £5 to each child.

Brown Betty

I have my very  own small Brown Betty, a teapot sent to me by an online friend.

I can fill one large mug or two cups from mine.

Somehow the tea always tastes better from this  pot.

It also means I drink more, as I enjoy using the teapot, this is always a good thing as I'm aware that I don't always drink enough.

I must now make a tea cosy to fit over it ready for the winter months so my tea doesn't get cold.