Making hay while the sun shines
The temperature today was a very respectable 24°C. This is more than adequate for me. The last two days of 32°C, less so. I'm solar powered so I like the sky being blue but I don't like heat.
It got up to 48°C in the greenhouse and that's with as many panes removed as I could. It's only got one window so in the summer it gets basically dismantled. A skeleton greenhouse. I had to take all the plants out first thing in the morning. I really need to get shades. Sometimes I just peg a weed suppressing sheet to it.
So on Monday, bank holiday, start of half term, hottest day May day ever, etc, we stayed at home. We put the camping tarp over the washing line and pegged it in, and put the blow-up bed under it. It was so nice. Though even fully shaded it was too hot by two thirty so we retreated inside.
The house is a good house for summer. It stays pretty cool, downstairs at least. We had two ceiling fans put in, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. Every time I switch them on, still after four years, I thank our past selves for this excellent decision. I love them. Then we went back out in the evening.
Last week the country was complaining about 10°C temperatures so the weather amped it right up and said how do you like them apples. It is probably true that people are never happy with the weather, certainly Brits, and this is only going to get more chaotic, more unpredictable, and even hotter.
I seized the days with some jobs - laundry that really needs to be done same day that I could get out on the line to instantly dry and without threat of rain. Cleaning the roof. Just leaving stuff in the garden. The day is so much simpler when the weather is dry. Being able to trust the weather to be one way the whole day is also very convenient.
The phrase "make hay while the sun shines" is something I try to live by. Life is unpredictable. If you have the chance, take it. You never know what storm clouds are around the corner.
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