Wednesday 28 June 2023
Today’s temperature around Scottish Borders is between 6°C and 15°C with periods of rain. In Lewisham, it is 17°C to 24°C and overcast. I got up shortly after half-five yesterday, worked, then had a break at about nine. I drove about four miles and parked, then walked a roundtrip to post a birthday card, which amounted to pretty much exactly ten-thousand steps. It rained on and off for the whole walk, which I’d expected and was dressed appropriately for. However, when I got home at around eleven, it was chucking it down and the house was cold. Since I put midge screens up at the non-Velux two sets of double windows upstairs, the upstairs has been less stuffy because we’ve been able to leave the windows open a bit. Yesterday, however, it was cold. Properly cold. Then I got cold. I had already decided that the early start justified a midday snooze so I could try to keep to my usual bedtime. so being cold seemed a good time to take to my bed. I started reading an easy, straightforward book (research – it’s a Jenny Colgan romance set in Scotland and I wanted to read something light; I’m trying to justify it, it wasn’t my usual kind of read), still cold. I then started reading a book about building a cabin (not so light but unexpectedly lovely to read) and then tried to sleep. I was too cold. My nose was cold, and stayed cold for hours. I could not get warm in bed. In June FFS. I ended up getting out of bed and putting my towelling robe on to keep warm. I did some stuff around the house to warm up, then went back to bed to try to warm up and ended up reading the whole book. I finished it at about seven, had a stodgy dinner (courgettes, carrots and spinach poached in stock with pasta and a bechemel cheese sauce; nothing gastronomical about that), did some cupboard-sorting and then had a burst of creative activity at around 22:00. I don’t remember the last time I read a whole book in a day.
I loved my walk yesterday, even with the rain. For the first few months we lived out here, I didn’t really like walking alongside the road. Now, I mind far less. For the hour-and-a-half/three-quarters I was walking, stopping frequently to take photos and admire the view, probably only ten to fifteen vehicles passed me. Just before I got to my car, which was a couple of hundred metres from a static caravan park, I saw one other person walking (shock). On part of my walk back, I listened to some suitably pretty, calming music through the speaker on my phone, very quietly, but I would never have done that anywhere with other people likely around. I also stood for a while to watch the distant collection of just-felled logs.
We have driven up and down that stretch of road countless times now, but it’s a whole different perspective to walk along it. Unsurprising, I know, but I saw so much more than I’ve ever seen before. I also smelled the honeysuckle, which I would never have experienced otherwise. This whole valley is a mass of wild flowers and untouched wilderness. It looks lovely as you pass by, seeing it as a whole, but it felt special seeing more of the individual plants. I took quite a lot of photographs with a view to identifying some of the plants.
Today, more of the same as yesterday, though nothing to post. I went to the water tank only once yesterday. After an early morning clothing wash, the level was at 58cm. I’m hoping today that it will be over 60cm, indeed it should be based on the flow being as it has been since Sunday afternoon. Had there been no sucking of the pipes on Sunday (eugh!), I would have probably had to approach the neighbour today to ask for more water from their borehole as I’d estimated we (well, “I” as Chris is in Lewisham until Sunday with water at his disposal) had enough water to last until Wednesday without going below the outlet pipe.
After my walk yesterday and with water issues significantly more positive than they have been for a while and despite being cold for so long yesterday, I am even kind of appreciating the rain and dullness still. I am, however, reminded that on chilly, grey, wet days the laundry does not dry at all quickly indoors.
