24.06.2022 The nudist, rural wanderer?

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 Friday 24th 60F. Bright and breezy. A long, hot, sunny day is promised.  Up at 5.30.

9am 74F. I was much too warm on my walk to the lanes. Light cotton jacket over a T-shirt. Light cotton trousers. I even took off my "baseball" cap but it didn't help. Nudist vagrancy could catch on locally if it remains hot. "The only one in the village."

 I have gained a new appreciation for the beauty of the countryside. How incredibly lucky I am to be able to wander freely along the byways. To soak up the birdsong, grasses, the sunlight on the crops. The trees, hedges, gardens and wild flowers from the moment I leave the front door. 

 Most of the world's 7 billion population are infinitely worse off than I am. Having to get up to go to work. To squander your entire lifetime of your waking hours of daylight. The torture of commuting. Then doing something utterly worthless for decades. Usually with people you don't even like. 

 All, just to make another tax-free billionaire even richer. Try early, rural retirement. Away from the city, the constant traffic and the aircraft noise. I highly recommend it. 😉

11.00 78F! I went over to the observatory after morning coffee to do some solar imaging. The wind steadily increased over the next hour or more. It is gusting to 40kph/25mph. 

 I just returned to the house for a drink of water. To find that a carrier bag full of polystyrene packing pieces had blown over. Scattering the white "S" shaped blobs all over the garden! 

 The early mornings mean that I keep dozing off at the computer. Which tells you something about the quality of my monologue. If I can't even keep myself awake. During today's micro-naps I kept seeing and hearing my [late] wife. She was trying to make an earnest point about something. 

 Unfortunately I couldn't hear her clearly and remembered nothing of the detail when I returned to [what passes for] consciousness. 

Very odd. This hasn't happened before. I admit that I feel far more comfortable now that her urn/ashes are no longer resting on the tallboy. I found it strangely intimidating.

17.00 82F outside in the shade, 75F downstairs, 82F upstairs and 92F in the shade in the greenhouse. 

 I have just returned from the shops via the longer route through the forest. The insulated, cool bag was in the saddle bag for the frozen stuff. Westerly gales meant it was very hard work going. Cruising at 19mph coming home. Only 10 miles.

 18.00 It suddenly clouded over and the temperature dropped from 82F to "only" 75F. Thunderstorms are forecast for the area to our west, moving away to the NW, but not here. Temperatures are now rising again.

 There was a downpour in the evening. A sweaty night with 80F indoors at bedtime. I discarded the summer duvet and slept under a sheet. Dinner went down well but I need bigger plates!

 

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