Sounds of the Countryside

Today we had to go into Axminster again and as it is the weekend we decided to call into the sweetshop and treat ourselves. It is really old-fashioned and takes me back to my childhood, glass jars on the shelves full of loose sweets; it is really hard to choose but I decided that I needed Edinburgh Rock in my life and Si chose Barley Sugars then we spotted sweet peanuts and ginger creams. Ok then the diet can start on Monday as it does every Monday and then ends on Tuesday.

Once we were back I went over to clean the girl's paddock but went through the top gate again. The girls spotted me heading that way and all crowded round humming, they had seen the long grass and put me on a guilt trip. I decided that as they were so good and easy to get back in yesterday I would let them wander for a bit. When I'd finished 'waste management' (just in case Rosemary's mum reads this) I thought that I deserved a cup of coffee, which I had sitting on the step because the weather was so good. I was listening to the birds in the hedgerow and watching them fly out to the feeding station for peanuts and sunflower seed. I have decided that one day I will be able to identify them from their cries. In the background we could hear gunshots that seemed to be getting closer and closer and started to worry about the alpacas getting stressed but then they faded away again. Suddenly there was a vroom, vroom behind me but that was just Si watching the qualifying for tomorrows Grand Prix.

We heard fireworks going off this evening but couldn't see anything lighting up the sky whichever way we looked. I put on 'Strictly Come Dancing' and before it had finished there was another funny sound coming from the sofa, it was Si snoring. This is really strange, as for a man whose only previous contribution to the Great British Dance Movement was pogoing with a bottle of Stella in his hand, he normally becomes the fifth judge criticising arm positions, choice of music, rise and fall etc.

Peace and quiet, please, I would love some.