Another lovely day, hope you're all enjoying it.
Hi Giddy, I'm loving this weather too. Never get tired of it.

After the supermarket run and MOT (passed thankfully), spent yesterday afternoon reclaiming the bottom of the garden from the weeds and overgrown shrubs.
Hard work but it looks lovely and now we can sit under the pergola again.

So John has found his twitter account again
As you say Giddy, following the cricket and retweeting about Fifty Shades of Grey.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Good evening

wow the weather is glorious
and the cricket is so exciting

think we might have a grip of the aussies gonads
now just need to put the squeeze on

john has been tweeting about the cricket
he was a worried boy
so i sent a tweet to him
that he shouldn't worry
when we have a swann up our sleeve
not that he played to well today
but did take those 2 important wickets

hope all are having a great weekend xxx

Morning all.

I am melting!!!! I just cannot take the heat! Just been out to water the plants.

Have to go to London tomorrow - have tickets for the El Bulli exhibition.

Sorry folks but I'm now doing an Indian Rain Dance - really need cooler weather to function properly.

Thanks for the info Giddy, for some reason I thought John was coming this week - been scanning the crowd shots of the cricket during the highlights show.

morning all


So John has been tweeting again, its nice to keep up with the sport.

my ears are almost clear and I can almost hear normally again....... just a little bit further to go...



I don't mind the heat .......if I have somewhere cool to get away for a bit......

Doing a sun dance to counteract your rain dance! But I'll put in a word to get you your own personal cloud Just not too big...

Yep, I reckon we'll need to watch out for a guy with a cork-strung hat and an Aussie accent yelling for England - could be entertaining....!

Hope the exhibition is worth your efforts Nyannie - and that you don't melt

I too hope I don't melt - have just opened the sofa bed so I can hopefully catch up on the sleep I didn't have last night!

Are you enjoying the hot weather?

No!!!!!

I want some rain - I am tired of heaving watering cans around the garden. I want it to be cooler!!!!!! I'm melting. . .

Nooo,not rain and miserably grey skies

We have it really good here,24°,not too hot and too cold.


Drink loads of fluid Nyannie.x

Well, it's been another looooong, hot day here, the kind of day when in the afternoon heat it feels as though everything has stopped in the world.....even the cat can't be bothered to move, just opens half an eye to observe a moth or a fly, then thinks 'shucks, another time maybe...', and goes back to sleep, stretched out under a bush in the coolest part of the garden. Then at around four o'clock, someone feels obliged to make some tea or squash, and we all sigh slightly as we make an effort to have a little conversation. It seems as though night and day should be reversed, it would almost be easier to sleep away the afternoon and do a few things later, when it's just that little bit cooler.....have a siesta in fact, as the Spanish do
Guess I did something like that today, so here I am catching up on a few emails and checking in here

Time now for a leisurely read, I think, and then I'm off to bed :yawn::sleep:

Hope everyone's well Keep up the fluid intake!

Lindy xx

Afternoon all. Having trouble logging in - anyone else having difficulties?'

Just got back from the El Bulli exhibition in London. Had lunch and then got in a cab (far too hot for public transport) and got home! Air con and blower on - it is 28 degrees upstairs!!!! My Indian dances haven't done any good.

I am really cranky as I don't sleep well in the heat.

Hope everyone is keeping cool - and yes, I am drinking those fluids!!!!

What a lovely description of a long lazy summers day..


its perfect. Ive always liked the idea of siesta, its nice to relax in the heat and then get more active as it cools down, Even though its dry, my garden is starting to look really pretty, I have some marigolds that self seed all over the garden, as so they look lovely at the moment.....the beds are all shades of orange.


I haven't been doing much this weekend, a Thyroid information session, and trying desperately to finish the dress I was making for my dressmaking course.


Its nearly there, everything needs to be ready for Wednesday, but although im pleased with how its made and how it fits me, ive realised the overall impression now its made is of the kind of floral dress my grandma wore in the 70s.. So im a bit disappointed in it. Well it has taught me a useful lesson..........there is a massive difference between a piece of fabric and a completed garment....

I hope the heat isn't getting to you too much, what kind of things were at the exhibition?

I can almost hear properly again...but its still a bit muffled..and I need to dash to the shops and garage in a second. why does everything seem to take so much longer in this heat?

Your garden sounds lovely augusta Marigolds don't survive in our garden, though I've planted quite a few over the years - we think the slugs eat them Buddleia, pelargoniums, antirrhinums and traditional geraniums all seem to do well, and we have a lovely white rose that after 10 years has suddenly started to climb as it should It's called 'Rambling Rector', I think - a friend gave it to us when we moved here. The garden has optimum moments and this seems to be one of them.....

You are so creative augusta. The idea of making a dress is quite beyond me, so much so that I haven't ever really been tempted to try. I bet yours is beautiful, whatever you say!

Hope everyone is managing the heat - I'd best get off and get a drink. Have a good evening all

Good evening everyone, how are you all surviving in the heat?

Very warm here today although we stiill have the breeze off the sea to keep it more comfortable.

Indoors is a very different story though, not too bad downstairs but the bedrooms face west so they get sun until it disappears behind the Downs at around 7pm. It's like a bake house at the moment.

Very privileged to witness the young herring gulls opposite take their first flight today.
The bigger of the two went first and landed on the next roof. The smaller one (who's only done a little wing flexing) realised he was on his own and my heart was in my mouth as he suddenly ran along the ridge tiles and launched himself off.
Thankfully he made it!
The parents returned and have spent the afternoon trying to coax them back over. They're not moving, seems once was enough for today, lol.

Reminded me of one of my favourite books, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.
I read it back in the seventies and my lovely o/h bought me a hardback copy with beautiful photos a few years ago for my birthday.

Your gardens sound lovely, haven't done any pots this year and we don't put any bedding plants in the ground as the slugs and snails eat them overnight.

Good to hear you are almost back to normal.

I am really beginning to hate the sunshine and heat. I feel sapped of energy and really don't feel like doing anything. I got up at 5 am to do the ironing and cannot face vacuuming. Will leave it until Thursday morning. Washing on at 5 am.

Just want some rain so I don't have to water garden. FED UP!!!!

Can you imagine? This is what climate change means and it is very worrying as people will use more energy for fans, air con etc. Chicken and egg situation.

I LOVED Jonathan Livingstone Seagull too. Have you read the Prophet? Ahh youth!

Good afternoon, weather still hot but it's rather hazy today.
No rain on the horizon at moment nyannie, the water companies will be shreeking soon no doubt.

Will have to water some of the shrubs today, good job we have water butts. Not so long ago they were overflowing.

Haven't read The Prophet, will go and google it.

Gull youngsters are still on other roof, no amount of coaxing by adults is working. Not even flexing their wings today, they need a good breeze whhich we had yesterday. Much stiller today.

Looking around the gull chicks next door and the ones next to that were all practising like made yesterday, today they're all quiet. Must be quite hot up on the roofs.

Off for a look around, hope you're all having a good day.

climate change is one of the most deceptively complicated ideas ever isn't It? We are due to get some solar panels installed soon, so hopefully we can do something towards generating our own energy!!!

I think the heavy rain and rising water table so there is more rain in the rivers and oceans also plays a part doesn't it? now the ice in the arctic has melted we are going to have more rainwater in the winter. And it looks like our traditional british climate is changing to one of very wet winters and very dry summers...which is more like the mediteranean isn't it?

Its hard isn't it......this kind of heat is bearable if there are the right kind of additions, like very thick walls to keep the heat out, and shutters to close during the midday heat and to open again in the evening...


so who else has been watching this years edition of BB? what on earth has been going on? Daley asked to leave !!!! most peculiar...!!

Hi augusta, how are the ears?

I've got caught up in BB, how did that happen.

I was watching the live feed online and Daley was causing consternation on the threads the night before the incident.
I'm amazed he wasn't warned then.

What I don't understand is they let them return to the safe house on their own after the incident, whilst still drunk and then took until 4pm in the afternoon to call her to the diary room and give her a formal warning (which it appears she's not told anyone about) and then him to the diary room to throw him out.

Then Hazel sat there and acted the innocent when people looked to her for an explaination.

Even more bizarrely, the housemates have been told so many lies they didn't believe BB and it had to be underlined to them it was serious.

Hi all

Some lovely posts Perhaps the hot weather does bring out the positive in us, after all!

On a different note, we ordered a BT 'On Demand' wireless box a couple of months ago, but failed to make it work (”Just plug in and watch! " - huh! ). Anyway I had another go today and bingo, we now have On Demand TV! Trouble is, I'm now thinking I'll never get any peace, as everyone catches up on things they missed, watches box sets etc I'll be sitting in a corner in the kitchen like an old crone, poring over my book or newspaper.......oh, I hope that's not how it turns out....

The house is quiet, I've washed my hair
The open window brings a breath of fresh air.....
I'd like to read but my mind's too tired
It's true what they say, I've been doing too much

Guess I can't sleep 'cos I'm just wired!

Night all, sleep,well :yawn::sleep:

Lindy x

Morning. Trying to get some housework done before it gets too hot.

Really fed up with the heat. Haven't been able to get a decent night's sleep in ages.

Keep cool everyone. . .

and Lindy, STOP working til all hours - it isn't good for you.

Where is georgy? Hope she hasn't melted in this heat.

I think On Demand will be a bit of a flash in the pan.......its useful to keep up with programmes missed etc...but somehow you still need some kind of recommendation of what is worth watching in the first place.

We have love film....on the TV and although we can usually find something to watch...its so hard with everyone chipping in what they do and don't want to watch...id almost just prefer to switch onto BBC or C4 to take whatever it is they are broadcasting



So this weekend is Lattitude...both girls are going... and its really funny to watch how 2 very different approaches to the same event...don't quite work...

One daughter has been a couple of times before, and is into a minimal camp kit. the other wants to take everything!!! But is too busy to organise it.....!! I do hope they have a good weekend.

Im confused about this new grading system for 11 year olds? How is it meant to work?

If there are 10 bands surely the gaps between those in the middle will become tiny....There will always be more able children, and less able children...but if you take the thousands of children in a particular age group....the gaps between those scoring 60% and 70%, could almost cover 4 bands in itself? So you could have a child with an average of 65 % in say ability band 5. And a child with an average of 60%, in band 7.

Its a numerical exercise...but what exactly is it meant to prove?


If the tests are standardarised and completed by 1000 of children, where is any individuality, and what exactly is being tested for ? And what standards are actually going to be proven?


At the moment SATs tests change every year, slightly so that children cant be taught completely to one particular test....but that means the variants of how questions are worded...again needs to be kept fairly small.

what is the point of all this?