Hay baling, bonfires and backroads.
Phil’s sister has been staying with us for most of this week, and Tuesday morning was spent driving to Birmingham and back to pick her up. Plans to see A&M were foiled by a potential COVID-19 exposure (and not enough time to get a PCR test to confirm either way).
Quiet week at work – how nice – and managed to finish up ‘early’ on Thursday which gave me and S sufficient time for a bonfire, getting through the large pile of garden cuttings plus 1 1/2 piles of Richard’s hedge trimmings. Up early on Friday to fit in the rest. A good job to have got done.
The highlight of the week was Ray and friends baling the hay in Kiln Field on Wednesday afternoon. Phil went to lend a hand. I delivered tea and cake after work.
More than a month later than last year.
We headed into Hereford on Friday afternoon and, after a mooch around the shops and sights, sat on the terrace of The Left Bank enjoying a (tiny) pot of tea and cake in the 30 minutes of sunshine there was, and watching a man in waders catch big fish in the River Wye. Lots of them. It is refreshing to see Hereford through someone else’s eyes, and to enjoy some of the more sociable things the city has to offer. All too often we just do a ‘tactical hit’ focused on shopping, library and admin.
Saturday was wet and with cloud so low we couldn’t see Cwm Hill let alone Hatterall Ridge. So we drove to Hay-on-Wye for an hour’s pottering, finding it full of posh London families on holiday and people dressed up for World War II. As Phil observed, reenactment and cosplay – what’s the real difference? Home via the back roads for a change.
Al fresco fry up on Sunday morning then drove S back to Birmingham Airport.
Plans to see A&M were scuppered again by another potential COVID-19 exposure (and not enough time for PCR results). Home around 6pm.
I’ve done the Bacton Square a couple of times this week – once before work on Thursday (backwards) and again with Phil on Monday morning (forwards). We measured our stride lengths when we got back, and I’ve updated my FitBit profile in the hope of more accurate stats. (0.83m if you’re interested.)
Rest of Monday was getting garden jobs done – weedkiller spraying, bramble snipping, black currant bush weeding – and catching up with computing. It brightened up as the afternoon went on and so I headed out for a late afternoon / early evening stroll – Cockyard & Kerrys Gate. Very sociable around Jury’s Farm.
TV: (Half of) The Lego Movie 2 (not that wowed; too frenetic), The Chair (not that wowed) and The Assassination of Gianni Versace (better).
Podcasts: The History of England, History Extra, In Our Time and Great Lives.
Photos: Herefordshire week 86 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2021-08-22.