2 April 2018 (Monday) - Wet Bank Holiday

I slept like a log last night – ten hours sleep. I suppose this is what happens after a night shift. I got up and had my weekly weigh-in. After a few choccy bars, KFC, quite a bit of ale and a roast pig-out over the last week I was expecting the worst but was pleasantly surprised to see my weight has held constant over the last week. No loss or gain.
I was rather surprised to see the forecast torrential rain wasn’t happening and had a look at the weather forecast. The BBC’s weather forecast was once rather good. They’ve now changed it so’s you get an icon describing the weather, and a percentage chance of rain. However, the two rarely agree. Take today’s weather forecast. At mid-day I was told to expect light cloud with a thirty per cent chance of rain. Two hours later I should expect light rain with a twenty per cent chance of rain.

As I scoffed hot cross buns for brekkie (over a quarter of my daily calorie allowance!) I had a look at the Internet. For once very little seemed to be going on, and with no emails of note I finished my brekkie and got off my bum. I went out to the garden and potted my sorbaria sorbifolia (as one does).
It took some doing.
I went into the garden at the very moment that the rain started, but I decided to crack on. The plan was to stick the plant into the pot that the monkey puzzle tree had been in until last year. There was already a load of soil in it. There was also a load of weeds. Where had they come from? I shifted the weeds and stuck the sorby-whatever in the new pot. It sat far too high, so I gave myself a backache digging a hole for it. Eventually I got it just right and thought I could fill in the soil gaps with the spare soil I have reserved in a dustbin just for these eventualities. After all, doesn’t everyone have a dustbin full of spare soil just in case of a horticultural calamity? No?
I had a calamity when I found my dustbin of soil had become a dustbin of mud. I slopped mud in until all was even, then thought I would make it all look pretty by putting down a weed-proof membrane and some decorative stones.
It was at this point that the dogs started to “help” me…
I had hoped to pot all three new plants, but the rain, the dogs, and having run out of spare soil put an end to that idea. Which was probably for the best. It was as I was posting a photo of the plant in its new pot onto Facebook that I realized that the thing was nothing like level. Still, it’s a plant. It will straighten itself out (I hope).

I came in to the house to find an intense smell of disinfectant. One of the dogs had been sick. Perhaps it was the excitement of helping me with the gardening?
We then went for a little walk round the park. We met a pup whose head was bandaged after a mishap at the dog groomers. We’d been thinking about taking Treacle there to get her claws clipped. Might have to think twice now.
The walk went really well until we got to the Chinese garden where some small kiddies (and their mummy) were looking for frogs in a stagnant mud pool. Suddenly looking for frogs became a game of “fetch the stick” in which all the kids and the dogs immediately became plastered in smelly black gunge.

Once home I scrubbed the worst of the mud from the dogs, and I switched on my exercise app. No matter how much I diet I still have a fat gut. A few years ago I lost a third of my bodyweight and still had a beer belly. I have this idea that an abdominal workout routine might sort it out. I’ve downloaded an exercise app, and I had a go. Russian twists, leg raises, planking, heel touches… all the time being mobbed by the dogs who both thought this was some novel new game for them to play with me.
I shall try again tomorrow morning before they wake up.

We had a spot of lunch, settled the dogs, and went for a little geo-mission. About two years ago I solved a series of geo-puzzles which are all in the vague direction of Sittingbourne. They looked to be more “drive-by” than “walk” and so they remained unfound until today. Finding the weather rather iffy and the dogs asleep, we thought we might spend a couple of hours driving about, stopping and rummaging in the undergrowth, and driving on a bit more.
We had a rather good time finding most of our targets. One eluded us; I suspect that one might have gone with a recent hedge-trimming. We thought about driving home via one or two more geo-targets, but the increasing rain put us off of that idea.

We came home and had a lazy afternoon and evening. "er indoors TM" boiled up a very good bit of dinner which we scoffed whilst watching Bake-Off and Tattoo Fixers.
Despite a rather good night’s kip I’m still rather tired. I might have an early night…

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