Saturday

Good morning, everyone.  The sun is just starting to shine and it looks as if it will be quite a pleasant day which bodes well for the plans Beth and I have down the allotment later on this morning.  Yesterday was OK - cold and breezy and not always sunny but there was no rain and my sheets dried on the line beautifully.

I prefer white bedding - sheets, duvet cover and pillowcases and to see them, clean and shining white, blowing about on the line, is a heartwarming thing to me.  I know I've said this to the point of being tedious, but after so many decades of not having the time (or energy) to hang my washing out over the weekend, even if the weather permitted, it's a real pleasure, not a grind at all.

Mind you, I might feel differently if I'd had to wash it all by hand and wring out the excess moisture with a mangle.  I have fleeting memories of my mum using her mangle and very hard work it was too.  She would never let me anywhere near it in case my wandering little fingers got in the way but I was fascinated by the way it was dripping wet on one side and looked almost try on the other.

I'd hate to go back to those days, wouldn't you?

Apart from that yesterday, Beth came round to sew and I did a lot of group admin stuff on Facebook in between re-reading 'Anne of Ingleside' for the umpteenth time on my Kindle and dealing with another bank issue.

Actually, it wasn't that bad.  I did some early morning online purchases.  One went through fine, the next didn't, and I realised that the bank was querying it as it was the same sort of area that was fraudulent use a fortnight or so ago.  Sure enough, later on, the phone rang and it was the fraud dept again.

Now, I do have problems with that as I have it on record with the bank that I am hard of hearing and can't 'do' phone calls all that well.  It was lucky that Beth was there yesterday so, when I realised I wasn't going to hear it clearly enough, I handed it over to her and she did the necessary, pushing the appropriate buttons to assure them that, yes, they were genuine payments!

I have no problem with the actions they took - after all, they are protecting my money - but I do have big problems with the lack of reasonable adjustment.  If I had an iPhone or similar, I could verify the payments quickly, but I don't, I have an old and cheap one for phone calls and texts - oh, and rather inadequate photos.  Is there no other way, I wonder?  Something online, perhaps?

Changing the subject, today is an allotment day.  We haven't been down all week for various reasons so I'm expecting the first thing will be a good hoe of the weeds that have dared to show their faces since the rain.  I won't be taking the mower but I may need to pop down tomorrow to give the grass a haircut.  The main aim today is to clear more weeds and to get the ground under the other two fruit trees covered with membrane stuff ready for more bark chippings.

Apart from that, there won't be a lot else to do today.  I don't need to go shopping, there's no washing to do, the kitchen needs a tidy but that's a ten minute job.  I will make some bread after the allotment work, which will be satisfying, and it's Doctor Who this evening.

Oh - and I need to research simple fruit cages.  I don't know anything about them but it must be something I can put up and get down easily.
Wish me luck!