Just realised that I haven’t done a blog since Sunday. I suppose in some ways that is quite good as I have become very lax over the school holidays. It is always the same. Simon is at home and my normal routines go totally to pot! It’s great having him here but things just don’t get done including my blog! He is back to work next week so normal service should be resumed and I may even post those holiday and wedding photos!
We are having a lovely week so far despite the absolutely crap weather. This summer is just awful. Let’s look at today: It was overcast all morning and quite windy. The rain began at 3pm and it has rained steadily ever since. We have had localised flooding (hasn’t affected us personally). The highest temperature today was 60 degrees centigrade.
It’s August for goodness sake! We should be wearing shorts, little sun tops and flip flops (me not Simon) instead we need a jacket to go anywhere outside and waterproof clothing, wellies and an umbrella. We actually put our heating on earlier for a short while as we were both cold. Ridiculous. I blame the government.
Anyway..... Monday we did a lot of pottering around in the morning and then went to the allotment for a short while in the afternoon. The rain came of course and spoilt it but we did get a few things done. Simon went to Wickes and got some sheets of corrugated plastic which we are going to use to try and waterproof the lean to structure that we built earlier this year. We have discovered that it leaks! In fact you can get wetter inside there than out!
We used old doors with glass panels for the roof as they let the light in so it should be possible to use it as a sort of green house for seeds. Unfortunately the water is coming in all around the glass and along every join! The clear plastic sheets are a solution according to Simon. I am rather concerned as to how he is going to manage to fix them.
I spent an hour or so with Coralie and the boys while Simon went to Wickes. Evan is so cute he has me in stitches.
Yesterday Simon was in school as it was GCSE results day for the children. All of the students he teaches did ok. There was an engineering class taught by another teacher which had 10 children ungraded so something isn’t quite right there and it is Simon’s job to investigate and try to figure out what went wrong. He also came home with a pile of analysis sheets to complete. It’s such a faff.
Of course once again, for about the 27th year running, the results are the highest ever! How does that work? Are our children getting more intelligent by the year? Want my opinion? Don’t care if you do or not, I’m giving it anyway. The exams get easier and easier year on year. We can’t let the little darlings fail after all. How to ensure they don’t fail and therefore keep their sense of self worth? Make it so easy a 10 year old can do it.
How do I know this? I have seen it with my own eyes. Remember I did 8 years as a senior exams officer invigilator. I see all the exam papers. I read them. I could answer the questions. I would get grade A’s and A*. Even subjects I have never studied I could answer the paper. Go up a grade to “A” level. Ok, I couldn’t do the “A” level maths paper but I could do “A” level English, Biology and several others. I never studied to “A” level. I haven’t done French since I left school but I could answer every question on the GCSE paper. The system is so dumbed down it is unbelievable.
They are going on and on at the moment about the number of students now going to University and how difficult it is for them to find graduate level jobs when they finish. The reason? We let anyone in to University nowadays. I’m sorry but it’s true. Years ago a University education was for the academically gifted elite. Now all you need is a couple of “A” levels at grade D or maybe a C and you can do a degree in something daft like women’s studies! University is not for everyone. I know some of you probably disagree with me, but I can assure you that I know quite a few young people who have no business to be at University. In the old days they would never have got places in a million years. The fact that they now do is what is putting so much pressure on the jobs market when they finish.
Wow, that was a good rant. Where was I? Oh yeah, Simon was in school until lunch time yesterday. I did a bit of house work while he was gone. When he got in we had lunch and then decided to go for a drive out in the car. We have taken to going for little drives recently. We drove through the villages in the direction of Oundle which is a market town about 10 miles from us.
We stopped off near the villages of Barnwell and Ashton and got out and went for a walk. We could see a lock on the river and since our boating trip we quite like looking at locks so we climbed over the stile and walked through the muddy field to get to it. I made Simon check that the cows were in the next field first! LOL! I like cows but not up close.
The lock was on the river Nene and called Ashton lock. The water was very high and flowing very fast. Once back in the car we went through a few more villages. We saw a sign for a canal boat yard just outside Oundle so we stopped off there to take a look. It is a very small company and they only have 2 boats to hire. We had thought that we might be able to get one for a few days later this week but actually the lady told us that no boats are currently moving on the Nene as there is a strong stream warning out. All the locks are closed. Basically all that rain has made the rivers too high and the currents dangerous.
The boat company was down a very long narrow lane which had some lovely sheep in the fields on either side. I had to stop and take photos! Back in the car we began driving back towards home when we spotted another lock on the Nene. We stopped the car and got out to look. It was Upper Barnwell Lock. It was very pretty but again we could see how high the river was and the water was really moving. It is right next to Oundle Mill which is now a restaurant and hotel and it looked very nice so is a possible venue for a meal out sometime soon.
This lock is just down the road from Barnwell Country Park and we had a short walk there. I took photos of the geese. By the time we once again returned to our car it was nearly 6pm so time to get ourselves home for dinner. The rain began about half way home and lasted most of the night.
Today we have been to the allotment. We stopped at the garden centre on the way to get some carrot seeds. Thompson and Morgan sell a variety of Nantes carrot which is specially bred for autumn planting and we wanted to get some for the raised bed. We also got some cabbage seed too. Coralie met us at the allotment with the boys. We picked blackberries for a short while but Evan wanted to do digging with Granddad. Evans idea of digging was to take earth out of the newly levelled raised bed where the carrots were going! Very helpful! Coralie spread out a large picnic blanket for Flynn to sit on but that didn’t really work as we turned around to see him crawling on the path with mud in his mouth! He was sick all down Coralie shortly after so the mud didn’t agree with him!
We did quite well today. Simon dug up loads more potatoes. I picked loads more runner beans, some carrots and 2 courgettes. I planted the carrot seed and a row of radish. We finished up there about 2pm as it looked like the rain was on its way. We stopped off at Wickes on our way home as Simon needed nails. We also made a stop at the council recycling plant as they sell compost. We haven’t tried their compost before and although it was cheaper than the garden centre it wasn’t as cheap as we thought it would be. (£3 a bag) We thought it would be really cheap as it is made from all of our waste. We still need to fill the 3rd and 4th raised beds so we thought we would give it a try.
We got home just before the rain and had a pleasant hour with cups of coffee and our computers. Simon cooked dinner while I set about preparing all those runner beans for the freezer. It takes quite a while. He is over at his barn now. Probably bailing out water as it floods quite badly over there. He’ll be back about 10.30, I think.
We were planning on having a couple of days away this week but I don’t think it is going to happen. We keep checking the weather forecast and it is just rain, rain and more rain. We were going to go and hire a tandem to cycle around Rutland water, then stay in a hotel and tour around a bit the following day. It wouldn’t be much fun in the rain. Not sure what we will do tomorrow now.
Ok, time to go. This turned into a long one!
Just remembered, Coralie and John have finally exchanged contracts on their house today. They will move in on the 13th of September.
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