Good evening,
The stream at the bottom of our garden is looking a little (but only a little) healthier following the recent showers.
In the winter it's quite impressive but has lately been a shadow of its former self. This didn't, however, stop a neighbour from using it to irrigate his garden during the dry spell we've just had. It's all above board apparently. You are allowed to pump a limited amount of water per day for private use.
This is all well & good & presumably saves him money & is ecologically sound, but the key word is pump. The pump isn't silent. In fact for the bulk of the day on Sunday the garden was being generously watered, with the pump doing an admirable impression of a coffee grinder. For about 6 hours. It was the soundtrack of our lunch in the garden & was even audible indoors over the Wimbledon coverage. When the pump went off the silence was almost oppressive.
Less than a day after the watering was complete the showers arrived & the negative (& shamefully suburban) half of me is simmering with resentment that my Sunday tranquility was ruined needlessly, but the positive half of me is delighted that the weather's unsettled. It may be wet out there but at least it's peaceful.
That said things are improving in the second half of the week. At the moment the weekend looks changeable & if I'm honest I don't know whether that's good news or not.
For the rest of the day I'll work hard on regaining a sense of perspective & look forward to seeing you later with Victor Meldrew fi r mly back in his box,
Robin
