Despite it not quite being the spring solstice, spring has deffo sprung down here. The weather has changed, the sun is shining, things are starting to bloom and our attention is turning to preparing for summer. During the week I had put a "flocculant" bag in the pool sump - a substance designed to make dust and other rubbish fall out of suspension in the water (I guess it softens the water, but who knows?). Anyway, it takes a few days to work its magic, but the water is definitely starting to clear, so yesterday I got the long brush out and brushed the pool floor towards the drain - It makes it murker for a while, but certainly started to work - to the extent I had to flush the pump filter a couple of times (using my new venting tube - hooray). Now planning to give it a proper vacuum clean in a couple of days.
G has been out and cleaned the patios which were knee-deep (only a minor exaggeration) in pollen and dust. We had a misty cloud for a few days and the websites were suggesting people stay indoors (Or wear masks?) as it was that nasty and full of dust. A few rain showers "flocculated" a lot of this dust onto the ground / into the pool / bloody everywhere and combined it with all the mimosa pollen. I am sure you get the picture. In addition, G decided to paint the utility room which had had some minor building attention to the corners - then she decided to clean it out totally, thus I was on shelf disassembly.
To fill in my "spare" time, I got out the jet-washer and started on the front path / drive. The weather was bright enough to do it in shorts, tee-shirt and flip-flops - but the increase in area was particularly noticeable as I had 3 sessions at it in order to to clean the whole shebang. It was worth it, as it now looks like a the palaccio de whatsit in Venice (=shiny).
Talking to a pal and he was telling me how he had just taken out of storage his front-door curtain - designed to keep the heat off his front door in the summer. He even told me he had diary entries to put it up on March 11 and take it down on October 18th (why not just use the solstices I thought). Funny thing is, it confirmed something G and I had been discussing this week, about how the black redstarts
(my favourite bird in the whole world) arrive in the 3rd week of October and leave about now. They obviously arrive and depart on the solstice (though whether to go to sunnier or cooler climes is not clear) - I guess it is actually possible that they time their migration based on said pal´s door-curtain.
Comments