1st July 2022 And there it was: Gone!

 ~~

 Friday 1st July 63F, becoming more overcast. Thundery showers possible. The TdeF starts in Copenhagen today with a late afternoon time trial. It could be very wet!

 Up at 5.30 after waking at 5am. I'll have to rescue my trike. I left it out on the work stand with the axles removed. Because I hadn't finished working on it. The weather radar shows I won't have long to get it into shelter. I fitted a motorcycle cover temporarily to keep the rain off the saddle and bag.

 BlogSpot is still broken. If I change to any other background image it spreads to the sides of the screen. As it should. When I select my familiar clouds and blue sky it shrinks to a narrow, central column. It won't allow me to upload one of my own images as a background. As it should. It just circles endlessly. I give up! 

 It seems the image was too large. So I went back to the clouds background and now it fits the page! Enjoy? Firefox is still not showing Followers. Chrome does. I'll keep working on it.

 There is a big gap in the weather radar. I'm going for a walk.

 8.00 67F. Returned from my brisk walk to the lanes. It feels incredibly humid. Though no sign of rain yet as the sky slowly darkens. It is becoming breezy from the east. South. Southwest? 

 I have moved the trike into the greenhouse to work on it. Good light and plenty of room to move around it on the stand. No wind or weather problems. Why am I so slow slow to catch onto new possibilities? 20 years of conditioning and ingrained inhibitions to a complete lack of accessibility? The greenhouse could always have been so much more than it was. A cluttered space with white tarpaulins dangling from the ceiling. White curtains covering every vertical wall. An excess of cane furniture. Never used or even able to be reached at times.

  I have the same problem with the [now] open doors between the kitchen and lounge. I sometime have to mentally pause and decide which is the shortest or most sensible route. Upstairs or just to the dining table? The direct route via the front hall? Or the old way, with a dogleg, via the rear hall? One of these front hall doors was closed off for years. Old habits die hard. 

 It is often so much more convenient to cross the front hall to reach the lounge from the kitchen. While simultaneously providing access to the greenhouse[off the front hall] if desired. With the greenhouse being steadily cleared it takes on new potential for storage or a well lit workshop. Or simply relaxing. 

 I need a suitably comfortable chair for the unusual greenhouse conditions. Patio furniture? Provided it isn't too hot out there of course. The doubled shade net has dropped the peak summer temperatures dramatically. I am rarely seeing over 80F out there now. There are plenty of other times when it would be pleasant just to sit out there. I have been checking out the furniture in the charity shops. Nothing so far.

 The horse chestnut stump is levelled and the remains of the trunk sliced. Ready  for me to split into fuel for the stove. What a relief to have it manageable. The bigger pieces are incredibly heavy. I can't even move the two branches on the left. They are between 12" and 18" in diameter. 30-50cm.

 I keep having this awful sense of sadness. That my wife never enjoyed any of these new found freedoms I have now. It could all have been so very different. Letting the light in along with the views. The ability to move freely around the house. Maximising its useful space. Enjoying and displaying her most prized possessions. Instead of carrying the heavy burden of decades of over-accumulation and inevitably limited storage capacity.  

 09.30. The sun has come out, briefly. To coincide with the weather radar showing a huge blob of orange level rainfall coming up from the south! Probably arriving about 11.00.

 10.30. 66F and windy. The trike is back together and all 22 gears are available.

 11.15 It started raining. 

 14.30 64F. It stopped raining during the sawing. Raining again now.

20.30  Dinner was two courses at the same time. I made cheese on toast. Then decided I needed a little something more. So I used up the open half tins of tomato and beans. To be eaten with a spoon as I simultaneously sawed my way though the toast. Finished off with a bread roll to soak up the tomato juice. Image stitched together from two quick snaps in Ms. ICE. There is an interesting optical illusion. Both plates are the same size.

~~