Still failing to predict the weather

Thursday 13th October



Fine and sunny. Experience has led us to the conclusion that in Cowan Bridge Thursday is the only day in the week that is likely to be fine and maybe sunny. All the rest are grey and overcast and either wet or cold and windy or on some occasions all three.


Friday 14th October


It was forecast that it would be fine but with low cloud so no point in going uphill. We decided to go for a walk at Elterwater. It is included in a little book that has been sponsored by Booths the supermarket that has stores throughout the north. We have done a few from this book and found that we have gotten lost every time, but the Elterwater sounded okay. However the instructions for this walk did it for me and if it had been my book it would be at the bottom of the bin by now. I totally lost it when we got lost yet again. But this time I was totally frustrated because we were in a National forest; a place which to me should have clearly marked trails and absolutely no sheep or cows and all their ****. After smashing around in a lot of this in what according to the book instructions was the trail, we returned the way we came and back to the road into Elterwater. We then proceeded on to what Brian calls a ‘nursing home’ walk i.e. one that has been constructed so that those with wheel chairs and push chairs can do a walk along the side of the lake. I don’t object to these, but what about catering to what surely must be the great majority of people who would enjoy walking on well marked paths without having to be gung ho purists who walk the fells full of self congratulation about their navigational skills! Bloody show-offs in my opinion!


Saturday 15th October


Anyway it did it for Brian as well. On Saturday the sun was shining from about 8.30 (on a normal day, it doesn’t get light until about 8.00 now and even later when it is raining) and when I suggested a fell walk to Brian he rejected it on the grounds that his shoes were too wet and that the ground will not have dried out. Consequently we enjoyed sitting in the lounge room in the sun reading the paper. Then we walked down to The Highwayman pub for a light lunch and back again – this time on the road. I did the washing and managed to get it all dry. The owners of the other two cottages were all here working in the garden and cleaning up the house. It reminded me of when I lived in London in the 1960s. Having gone through an English winter, a friend and I couldn’t be bothered going sightseeing when we got onto the continent – we had missed the sun so much during the winter that all we wanted to do was to sit and enjoy it. One of the chaps in the local shop said to me that it is amazing how a couple of days of sunshine can lift the spirits and I have to agree.


FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD AND OTHER THOUGHTS


Our visitors last week bought us lots food. Tim and Hazel bought us potatoes garlic and onions from their allotment, and Ann and Stephen apples, pears, tomatoes, peppers, grapes, pumpkins, homemade jams, honey, chutney and a damson and walnut cake. No wonder I am putting on weight! The amazing thing about Tim’s potatoes is that some of them are purple. Apparently you can get purple skinned potatoes, but Tim’s are purple right through. We had some of them baked when we roasted a chicken and they were delicious, but I can’t wait to have them mashed. Can you imagine how colourful the plate would look with purple mashed potatoes, green peas and some carrots? I wonder the cook designers haven’t been promoting them. They taste a bit like an orange sweet potato to me.


The apples and pears Stephen grew are heritage apples and we have had two or three apple and pear crumbles, as well as an apple and damson crumble with damsons from the trees in the garden.


SCENERY and WILDLIFE

The Lakes district is obviously one of the most scenic in Britain and it is in the County of Cumbria. When we did the walk to the top at Keswick, and looked down on Derwent water with its small islands, I could see the similarities between that scene below and the early artist drawings and paintings of Sydney harbour. My guess is that that is why the name of the County in which Sydney is placed is Cumberland. Will have to look it up when I get home (or have access to the internet).


Yesterday morning, (Saturday which was the lovely sunny day) I was watching three young rabbits chasing each other around the garden and thought about how people with imagination and drawing skills like Beatrix Potter could not help but write about what she saw from her farm. They appeared to be having so much fun, and are so cute and no wonder they are so popular in Britain. Shame they do so much damage to the land in Australia; there is a $30,000 fine if you are found with a pet rabbit in Queensland (or any rabbit for that matter except a dead one).


We also have a very cute wood mouse, according to Stephen. He is shy but does not appear to be too frightened of us. Brian saw him in the kitchen and about a week later I saw him emerge from the wood basket in the lounge room. He kept appearing when Stephen was lighting the fire and when we got near to the end of the wood in the basket, we could see the cosy little newspaper nest he had made at the bottom. Brian took the basket with the mouse in it into the garden and turned it upside down and the mouse ran into the wood shed. We thought that would be that. But the following night I saw him run across the stairs in the hallway and on Saturday when I was sitting in the lounge room could hear him rebuilding his nest in the bottom of the basket. Brian asked Sandra (who came to do some gardening yesterday) how far he has to remove the mouse so that he won’t come back again? He suggested Lancaster where Sandra lives. She laughed, but I’m not sure whether she would appreciate having the mouse in her house. (or as the Canadians would say ‘a moose in the hoose’).