Monday 4th May 2020



The poles were given their first coat of red paint. It is definitely the red paint that highlights them, looking quite plain without. There are lots of Dandelion ‘sugar fairies’ blowing in the air when the heat rises in the afternoon, so hopefully, the finish will be OK after painting them first thing as soon as the dew dries.

The chrome mushroom vents fitted to the roof cost £37.99 each. We have regularly polished them although they have never been varnished. And yet, disappointingly, the chrome finish has largely worn off and they look terrible. The bases had already been painted in Graphite Grey when the roof was repainted last year and so we decided to paint the vents themselves. We cannot decide on the colour between Graphite Grey or Black and so are priming them all and then painting one black, then decide on the final finish.

We walked as far as Aqueduct Marina in the afternoon, far enough for Harvey who has never been one for long walks. The spring plants are beginning to give way to the early summer varieties. The Vetches, Buttercups and Red Clover now all in bloom. The blossom on the Blackthorn has now also given way to the magnificent blossoms of the Hawthorn bushes. We also saw a gorgeous Common Blue Butterfly and took some lovely photographs. 
     

                          
                                                                              Male, Common Blue Butterfly                                                         

                                                                                           Hawthorn in Blossom



Our days have fallen into a pattern of a walk, a bit of work, reading. This is a lovely spot to sit out the virus lock-down but, no doubt like the rest of the world, we are feeling frustrated about not being able to move. We spoke about our plans for the coming year. We had planned a trip to London this year but, with having to be at Streethay Wharf near Lichfield for the repaint in February, this has been shelved. Of course, nobody knows when it will be safe, or right, to travel, but we will probably cruise the Llangollen Canal once the lock-down is lifted. The Llangollen is a beautiful canal and very popular because of it. However, the hire industry will be slow to open, if at all this year and so the canal should be pretty quiet.






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