It's cooling down

The Summer is no more! Who knew?
Well I think it is kind of a relief really.
For one thing, Autumn is supposed to be cooler and when we get a sunny day, it is a bonus.
That is much more pleasant than 'Summer' being only one sunny day in 30 for some reason, even if the weather is exactly the same as June ,July and August's has been.

I have been playing campfires in the garden.
I take the junk mail down to the compost bin area and burn it in the storm kettle.
The water is enough to fill our big red tea pot ,enough for 6 mugs of tea.
I wait for the ashes to cool down and throw them in the compost.
Lately I have been trying to light the fire without matches and it is not easy.
Even using a steel ,I only manage it every 3rd time .
The rest of the time, I resort to a lighter.

Today was spent in clearing the old dishwasher ready for it to be put out.
I have been using it as a cupboard in which to keep the plastic tubs and containers that I reuse in the kitchen so they are all over the table at the moment in the dining room.

I think it might end up as the scrap man's treasure.
We have been offered a working one from freecycle and OH and hopefully DS will fetch it tomorrow.
I could easily go but there are 2 men here and really I think I should expect DS to pitch in and help while he has no work and lives here completely free of charge.

The Dishwasher lives in the old downstairs loo area.
There is no loo in there as it was cracked many years ago and we took it out and sealed over the hole in the floor(with a bin lid and concrete in-case we should ever refit a loo).
The cold water pipe is handy for the machine.
The outlet has a little stand pipe that OH made which goes to the downpipe outside through a hole in the wall.
The lobby leading to the back door has a freezer with a fridge standing on top of it as our kitchen is too small to accommodate them.
Tomorrow we will have to move them out of the way ,just so we can move the machines out and in.

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The garden is looking green and a bit messy.
There are still some courgettes appearing on the plants despite the mad harvesting.
I picked about 7 portions of Runner beans yesterday too.
They are in the dehydrator which runs at night on economy 7 (cheap electricity).
The very smallest beans will dry in one night but bigger specimens take 2.

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The little dears are back to school next week.
Hoo bloomin ray!
This holiday there has been a screamer out nearly every day.
By screamer, I mean a female child who's parents don't know what anti social means.
The child screams at every given opportunity and is out there right now (it is gone 9pm and pitch dark).
She is about 4 years old if I have heard correctly (the children speak loudly and shout mostly and are not shy about broadcasting there address, ages,names etc) .
They live about 3 or 4 gardens away as the crow flies but the sound travels so that they seem as though they are under the window or in the next garden.
One cannot really be surprised by their volume, their mother swears like a navvy .
They are called every name under the sun and ordered to F off if they don't like it.
Apparently ,they are doing her head in!

Thankfully,we do not live next door.

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My neighbour's grandson now has a small daughter.
She arrived around January time and so is still a sweety.
Her daddy seems to dote on her rather as mine doted on me I believe .
He is not to be seen recently without the little one attached somewhere about his person like a mascot at a football game.
We have known him since he was around 2 years old.
He is very good with the little one.

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According to my mother, my father was always very good with the little ones.
Strangely that is a double edged sword.
Being good with the little ones in our case, involved dad absolutely worshipping the youngest child to the point of idiocy.
Many a time I remember my older brother being chastised for my wrong doings.
It was always his fault because where else must I have learned to act or speak like that?
Actually I probably picked up an awful lot of my misdemenours from nursery school where I went before I was old enough to go to the local school.
We lived in an area of high immigration and very low standards of living,not because there were many immigrants as such but because it was an area of low earners and rubbish housing.
The nursery was free because mum had to work.

I got my own turn as the older sister a few years later and became the slapping target for about 7 years until I complained at school to a teacher( deputy head) who promptly drove me to my home and asked my parents what was meant . My mother admitted that dad was 'heavy handed' and the teacher (quite bravely I thought) told dad to lay off or be reported to the Social services.
He never slapped me ever again.

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