Animedragon

The four day Spring Steam Gala on the West Somerset Railway. Four whole days to spend riding, watching and filming preserved steam locomotives! What's your dream car?

A sack

Gear

Nepotism

The Mayor of London decided that the poor air quality in the capital and surrounding areas was caused by emissions from cars, so he introduced a Low Emission Zone, and then expanded it to an Ultra Low Emission Zone, which means that anyone who drives a car with a tailpipe emission above a certain figure has to pay £12.50* per day to take their car into the zone. The ULEZ even extends into the suburbs where I live, fortunately my car meets the requirement so I don't have to pay. * about $15

Mondays are strange days, even though I'm retired so they shouldn't be any different to any other day they still 'feel' different and I'm always glad when Monday is over.

When we had dogs my parents were fit enough to do the dog walking on week days and I took the dog to the park on weekends, the dogs liked the car ride as well!* Fortunately none of the dogs we had liked going out in the rain, although they would insist on checking the weather out of both front and back doors just to make sure it was the same on both sides of the house. I don't have a dog now because it wouldn't be fair on the dog as I couldn't look after him/her properly. * My mother always knew when I was going out in the car because our dog would rush to the bottom of the stairs and sit there looking up and wagging her tail, somehow she knew when I came out of my room wearing my car coat even before she could see me. If I came out of my room with a different coat on she didn't bother. - Dogs are smarter than we think.

That was my father's idea. Unfortunately the apples are all very small and not nice to eat. My mother tried using them to make apple pie, which did taste nice, but she had to peel and core so many apples to get enough to make the pie it just wasn't worth the effort.

Welcome to the Forum and the wonderful world of anime and manga. Pull up a cushion, or a chair if sitting on the floor isn't your thing, and make yourself at home.

Icicle

Nuclear Power

Sequential

This morning I felt very industrious and went out in the front garden to cut back the triffid that's been threatening to attack anyone passing my house.

I have a tendency to drop off to sleep for a short time after lunch, and like you I wish I hadn't done it because it leaves me feeling tired for the rest of the afternoon. (People tell me that this is the result of getting old. My mind refuses to believe I'm old but my legs tell a different story!)

It's still nice and sunny, but the temperature has dropped to a more pleasant 22-24C. It's also a lot cooler at night which is good because I can now catch up on the sleep I lost during the heat wave.

Years ago my father had a great idea that he wanted a pond in the garden and after several visits to the local garden centre to research the matter of building garden ponds, he and a friend created a raised area in which to put the pond (the earth in the garden is really hard so it's easier to build up than excavate). When finished the pond looked really nice with its small fountain and such like. It's not large enough to have fish in, which is a good thing because when the autumn came we realised that putting a pond under the branches of a tree was not a good idea as it soon filled up with dead leaves, and rotting windfall apples*, I tend to regard it more as a bio-hazard than a pond. Every couple of years in the summer I get enthusiastic and clean it out, but it's a waste of time as it soon clogs up again. * The apple trees were another of my father's great garden ideas that didn't quite work out as intended!

Dragons are very popular, but they do tend to get a bad reputation so they need a better PR team. Tolkien's dragons are OK, but I much prefer the dragons from Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern books.

I was also born in the year of the dragon, and like you, I was really pleased when I found that out.

Itemised

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262

Reflection

I went to bed last night at 11:30 and woke just after 7:00 this morning, the first good nights sleep I've had this week.

It's still sunny, but a lot cooler at 18C

Fireworks