14.05.2023 Already feeling the heat!

 ~o~

 Sunday 14th 11C/51F. Bright but rather cloudy. Sunny morning but possible thundery showers later. I'd better go this morning if I want a ride.

 Still only early May, but I was too hot in bed at 22C/72F last night. It is 19C/66F downstairs. It feels much cooler. The greenhouse has been ventilated with both end doors wide open. The door to the house remains closed. I don't want to add any extra heat. The shade nets help but have limits. They also darken the indoors.

 The temperature in the glazed ex-balcony/gable-end room shot up to 30C/86F yesterday afternoon. Doors firmly closed to keep the heat out of the attic. There is no shade or ventilation out there. White curtains covered the glass wall in the past. IT was only ever used for storage. The attic is the computer/TV room and bedroom. Where I spend most of my time indoors. 

 I shall have to seriously consider moving downstairs for the summer this year. Which raises issues with moving "stuff." The folding sponge mattress is firm but no fun lying on the floor. It also feels like dossing! Even if it can be quickly tidied away. 

 The pocket sprung beds upstairs are getting old and weigh a ton. There is no way I am capable of dragging a bed downstairs! It would be extremely difficult negotiating the steep, narrow stairs. I could squeeze a mattress out of the new bedroom window but only just. The bases are deeper, solid and even heavier.

 Then there is the tall cabinet at the bottom of the stairs. It is still full of my wife's china cats and ornaments. The cabinet stands in an alcove against the chimney. So would be very difficult to place anywhere else in the lounge. It has never occurred to me to do anything with her precious collection. Until now. I wonder if a single bed/chair "put-u-up" would work?

 7.40 14C/57F. Time for a walk. The traffic was very light. The hedgerows heavy with birdsong and calls. A red kite came sailing over a copse. Took one look at me and did a sharp U-turn. The lilacs are in flower. Two hares were sitting out on a field again. A few yards from yesterday's resting place.

 I am still deciding where to go for a ride today. 

11.30. Returned from an exploratory ride. Looking for gravel tracks and small lanes. Those I had never ridden. As unsuitable for the trike, or simply ignored. Miles of gravel track. Taken at 20km/hr or above. 40km total at an average of only 18km/hr. All good practice.

It has reached 23C/74F after lunch. 25C/77F upstairs. 34C/93F in the balcony room. Making it even more sensible to sleep downstairs tonight. Fortunately the open end doors of the greenhouse kept it cooler out there. So it didn't warm the downstairs too much.

I am trying to decide if I want a full Sunday Dinner. I didn't.

~o~