... of flimsy little skimpy things for high summer.
Most people walking past are wearing puffer jackets and scarves and (if they are anything like me) have still got their thermals on underneath.
Bertie comes with me to town. I hoped to walk him in the park but it starts to rain so we head straight for the new solar panel shelters and I lift out the empty gas bottles that are behind his cage and shove them in the well of the passenger seat. At least I manage to do that in the dry.
We wander up to the MacDonald's on the far side of the carpark. Bertie thinks it would be a good idea to go inside, which is tempting, but I steer him away and we explore the garden area they've created for any dropped chips and then head back to the car.
He is good in the new Renault - much more so than he was in the Skoda. Maybe it's because his cage is hard up against the front seats, so he is really close to us when we are travelling. Little or no whimpering, except if he needs a comfort break. I leave him to "guard the car", which he does happily.
I'd resigned myself to not renewing the gas bottles since the full ones are in pens up on the road, a schlep away from the back of the store where the Drive trolleys are wheeled out to waiting customers and where one pays for the gas. It's cruel to ask the assistants to come out in the pouring rain. They are all young and totally inappropriately dressed for a soaking.
But I'm in luck. The rain eases off and a young man carries my full bottles for me and puts them in the car. They are the plastic, lighter weight version and they warn me of the passing years. Sixteen years ago I could carry the heavy metal ones and now, even the plastic ones feel an effort. Tod has bought a set of dumbbells as we have read about the importance of retaining muscle strength. I note they are still in their box. I must encourage the young assistants to let me carry the full gas bottles. There's no sign that the weather is going to improve over the coming weeks, so it looks like I'll be buying more.
Also, there'll be no "clout casting" in this household even although May is about to be out, and certainly no buying or wearing of little skimpy summery things for the foreseeable future.
If memory serves the 'first aisle' used to be stuffed with chocolate rabbits ( Lindt and some generic look-a-likes) for ages after Easter - and before. Our shops have also thought that it's time for summer dresses but not just yet for me until I can lose long sleeved under garments! Cold wind is our problem at the moment with occasional showers or heavy rain. Lesley
ReplyDeleteThe chocolate rabbits are still lurking somewhere in the store! Hopefully it'll warm up a bit over the coming days, though we're still lighting the fire in the lounge in the evening. Hope you too get warmer weather.
DeleteFriends in France tell me it seems to have been raining for ever....gardens running wild as too wet to get anything done. I too would have been reluctant to ask the staff to load the gas bottles in the pouring rain....though here a chap will slit up a big plastic sack, slip it on like a monk's hood and shoot out to your car with your shopping.
ReplyDeleteAs to muscle strength, I feel I have enough practice heaving protesting French bulldogs away from toxic toads and carting them back to the house....the other dogs don't bother, but these two are fascinated by them. Probably getting a high from the poison the toads give off! I have to dash out as soon as I hear them barking, capture them and wash out their mouths with milk and lemon to counter the poison - after which I need to sit down for a while! They may be small but they are remarkably heavy.
Hello Helen, good to hear from you. Heavens! The toad scenario sounds grim! All I had to cope with in the early days was Clara running round the garden with a hedgehog in her mouth! To begin with I worried about the hedgehogs. In fact they were fine. I would drag her into the kitchen with blood dripping and pick the spines out of her lips. Fortunately Vita and now Bertie just bark(ed). And yes, it's still raining.
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