Very, Very Wet

We were delighted to be woken just after 02:00 by Jasper yowling for more food. I had put out the usual ration of supper, which he had cleared and licked the bowl clean. He was yowling, waiting for the breakfast bowl to open. In the end, I got up and circumvented the timer. As the lid opened, he dived straight in. We didn't hear another murmur from him. It didn't mean, however, that I was able to drop back off to sleep. At best, I dozed.

I was up just before 07:00. I needed coffee to kick-start the day. I was reading the overnight news when I was conscious of a lot of crashing and banging from outside. I felt quite smug as I realised it was the refuse collectors emptying our bins and I had remembered to put them out last night. The clattering from the refuse truck woke Di, and she pottered down for a cup of tea. Just as I went up for my morning ablutions, Zoe messaged us. Her heating had failed, and she had no hot water. Could she shower here after dropping Ellie at school? Of course, she could.

Waterproofs were an absolute necessity today. I sloshed my way to Zoe's to join the walk school, then continued around my usual route for the morning walk. By the time I arrived home an hour later, my outer layer was drenched, but I was dry underneath. I started a new audiobook on the walk. This is another of the Alex Delaware novels by Jonathan Kellerman. It seems intriguing so far, but there is a long way to go. (Interestingly, I received an email from Audible to reveal that I had listened to 34 books last year; in total, this consumed 268 hours).

Once home, with breakfast finished, we completed the shopping list and headed for Sainsbury's for our weekly outing. It was lunchtime by the time we had arrived home and unpacked. We had a quiet hour in the lounge before I set off through the rain to collect Ellie. Once home, Ellie and Nana sat on the floor and worked on a project for school. They are making a room in a shoe box.

With Zoe's heating failing for a 3rd time this week, I contacted Ross, the heating engineer who replaced all of our heating system. I have asked him to call and provide a quote for replacing Zoe's system, which, frankly, has caused problems since day one.