It Ain't 'Arf 'Ot Mum!

Phew! What a scorcher of a week! It's during weeks like this that I'm so glad I work from home. Admittedly I'm sitting in my un-air conditioned 9' x 6' back bedroom with two PCs most of the day but at least I have the opportunity to take a little wander round the garden with a lollipop in my hand or, better still, a nice cold beer or glass of white wine!

I have to say that most of my working week was spent on one or two really lengthy surveyors' reports - one on the condition of various warehouses on an industrial estate which wasn't the most inspiring piece of work, hence the need for numerous jaunts round the garden to keep me awake! But it keeps the wolf from the door and it's enabled me to be able to afford to replenish the wine/beer cellar!!

Monday night was a bit hairy! Not in the 'horror' sense but in a 'catty' sense. Cleo, as you'll know from my profile picture, is a long-haired tabby and white cat. During the summer months she loves to sit for hours in a wild area at the bottom of our garden waiting for some poor unsuspecting little vole or shrew to poke his nose out before pouncing, elephant like upon it (she's not exactly a super model; more of a Dawn French!), and more often than not, proudly presenting it to us in half eaten form in the middle of the night (bless!). Unfortunately she likes to hide in the undergrowth and comes in covered in nettles, twigs and goose grass. She then nibbles her fur to get the lumps out and then, worst of all, she brings up a hair ball which her 'Mum' has to clean up. So, every year, we give her a make-over. Mum holds her down while Dad gets the electric shaver out. Jolly good fun! Cleo has a nice new hair-do and Mum and Dad end up looking like Gizmo from Gremlins, only maybe not quite so cute!!

But you'll be pleased to hear that all that fur doesn't go to waste - it's recycled; we store it up and then put it out for the birds in early Spring so they can use it for nesting; not so much feathering their nests, but furring it!! This trip to the beauty salon does have a side-effect though. When Cleo washes over the next couple of days she naturally picks up loose fur which means she brings up hair balls regularly.

On Tuesday I was actually quite pleased to find it was blisteringly hot and sunny. Cleo, whether by accident or by design to vent her annoyance at being stripped of her long wavy locks, brought up two hair balls on the bed. So, there was I flapping around, working myself up into a sweat stripping the bed right down to the under blanket. I then had a tussle with the duvet trying to get it downstairs and force it, kicking and screaming almost (the duvet, not me!), into the washing machine; while Adam was struggling to get the dripping item over the 'whirly gig' linen line out in the garden I battled with the blanket which was marginally easier to get into the machine. Last load of the day - two sheets and a duvet cover.

Typically, despite the hot sunny day, the duvet and blanket were still damp when we got them off the linen line so we had to 'make do' - I got my sofa snug off the sofa and used it as a sleeping bag but without a zip at the side but as we only have the one, Adam got a double blanket out of the airing cupboard and a double sheet. He decided to lay the blanket out and put the sheet on top. He then laid on one half of the man-made sleeping 'bag' and pulled the other half over the top of him. The result? I had a blissful sleep; Adam, on the other hand, hardly slept a wink. He found himself totally cocooned and, as the night was particularly sweltering, it wasn't necessarily the best thing! And as for Cleo, she didn't bat an eye - she curled up by my feet blissfully unaware of the havoc she'd caused.

The rest of the week seemed to bumble along quite well, despite the heat, and I even managed to get to look at the basics for my next article yesterday afternoon, probably because all my surveyors and estate agents 'received last minute instructions to undertake inspections of property' - in other words, 'slipped off in the car for the afternoon to listen to the tennis on the radio'!! I'm going for another history one - a Tudor murder which involved a landmark Court case that ended in murder. I'm probably going to call it The Church, The Crown and The Christening Robe!!! Hopefully that's enough info to get you intrigued!

Despite a thunder storm yesterday afternoon, today seems just as hot as ever, so Adam and I were up bright and early, took a trip to the village of Coltishall to visit the post office and found that the holidaymakers are now starting to gather. There were several boats moored along Coltishall Common (as a matter of interest you may like to know it's owned by King's College, Cambridge and has been for centuries!). It's easy to tell the holidaymakers from the locals - the male holidaymakers can be seen wearing captains hats; the locals can be seen wearing straw hats or white 'cricket' hats!

There then followed a slight diversion to the Co-op in Spixworth to get ice cream and loads of salad stuff so we can expect the next Ice Age to descend any time now!! I've just indulged in a lovely ham salad and discovered that melon seems to mix well with smoky ham, iceberg lettuce, cucumber and pineapple.

I've watered the garden so think I'm going to sit here quietly now for the rest of the day and do a bit of delving into my next 'labour of love' article! And for those of you who very kindly take the trouble to read my blog, whilst looking into the latest article I came across a really interesting website so, For Your Eyes Only Commander Bond!, here's a link - http://www.exclassics.com. It also gives links to other similar websites. There are all sorts of interesting documents there and all are in the public domain!!!

Speak to you next week.