A quiet week
It’s been a funny sort of week this week and quiet in a couple of different ways.
Quiet certainly in that not so small daughter has gone back to school and both my husband and big daughter have been out of the house at work so I’ve had the place to myself, but also quiet in that I have remembered that the first week back after a school holiday usually feels a bit out of sorts so I haven’t tried to do All The Things as I am inclined to do when left to my own devices!
I read on one of Lucy’s Blogtober posts that CJ who writes the Above The River blog (I’ve had such a lovely time this last month discovering new blogs to read!) calls the week after a holiday “re-entry” and after a week in a happy orbit of no school runs, lazy mornings and pretty much pleasing myself what to do now that not so small daughter entertains herself, I intended to do what I could to make this week the un-bumpiest (most un-bumpy?) of landings! 🙂
I always find it hard work getting back into routine after school holidays, and Mondays in particular are always quite slow days for me. It’s taken me a long time to realise that I am much better not trying to All The Things on a Monday morning and I think that giving myself permission not to try to do everything this week has made all the difference. I’ve also come to realise that I really like to be up before everyone else in the house – not hard as the rest of the family are not really morning people, or certainly not without protest! – particularly at this time of year when it’s still quite dark in the mornings. I love to be awake and cosy, sorting out the day to come in my head and taking some time to do some quiet breathing on my own. No phone, no computer, nothing else to do, just me. We all need some self-care time in the day so that we can be at our best to face what comes our way, and this is mine.
This Monday, the quiet moments were accompanied by the sound of rain on the windows. I love that sound when I’m tucked up in bed but not so much when I know that I’m going to have to go out into it. Oh my life, it was so wet! The rain was so heavy that it looked like fog outside. Not so small daughter didn’t even begin to argue about going out to school without a coat. I really did think twice about taking the dog for a walk but then I did that thing where you think “Oh, the rain will go off in a minute” (it didn’t), then “It can’t get any worse than this” (it could), and then the dog starting singing his “I’m going for a walk” song from the back of the car (if you’ve got a dog, you may know this song!) so I couldn’t let him down and I headed for the Nine Arches which was the closest place to do a short walk. Within minutes of getting out the car, he looked like a damp dog with a fur coat designed for the rain and I looked like a drowned rat.
That step is usually not under water so you can see how much rain there has been. By this time, I had discovered that any waterproof-ness (what do you mean, that’s not a real word?! 🤣 ) in my coat had long gone despite my recently re-proofing it but we were at the furthest point from the car so there was nothing to do but get on with it. We squelched up as far as the little bridge to see how deep the stream was …
It was very deep – the dog stayed on his lead!
And then we squelched back to the car. Well, I say “we” but it was me that squelched and the dog bounced about happily, tail in the air and jumping in all the new puddles that had formed. And then shook himself all over the car seats whilst I sat in a puddle of my own. Ugh.
Once we got home and I had changed all my clothes (the only dry things were my socks in my wellies!), I set about ordering a new coat. My old one is probably not far off as old as the dog so I decided it would be OK to buy a new one. It arrived the next day which was a nice surprise (I wasn’t expecting it until the weekend) and of course now that I have bought a brand new very waterproof waterproof, you can be sure that it’s never going to rain again!
Yes, it’s purple. I have decided that I am not an old woman but I shall still wear purple whenever I want to because it’s my favourite colour. It also goes very well with my purple wellies and I am not going to think at all that I might look like a walking grape (never Violet Beauregarde, the unpleasant character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who turns into a blueberry, thank you very much!) but instead that I brighten up my own day which is just what I need when I’m out in the rain. Oh, and this coat has a Proper Hood which I am very pleased about!
As you might expect, the weather has been lovely ever since.
There’s been a lot of flooding, though, and I do hope that you have managed to stay safe and dry where you are.
You can see how much the water level had dropped in the brook only a few days later!
Oh and there have also been some beautiful blue skies and brilliant Autumn colour at last. I should have bought my new coat weeks ago!
Now, you may have got to this point in the post and thought that I have forgotten about the sock blocker giveaway, but don’t worry, I haven’t! That’s coming up in just a minute but there’s something that I wanted to mention first.
It’s 5 November and Bonfire Night here in the UK which means lots of firework noise as we remember the anniversary of the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by Guy Fawkes. Our dog and cat aren’t that bothered by fireworks but I know that lots of people have pets that get terribly upset so when I saw a post on Facebook that mentioned a special radio programme just for them, I wanted to add the link for you. Classic FM has a special edition of Pet Classics on tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) supported by the RSPCA to help to keep pets and their owners calm over the weekend. You can find the link to the programme here.
And now – thank you for waiting so patiently! – let me tell you who has won the set of child-sized sock blockers that I showed you on Day 29 of Blogtober. The reindeer with the very shiny nose is indeed Rudolph so well done to everyone for getting that right – and thank you for the various translations of his name too! I love that this reindeer is international! 🙂
I used the random number generator and then counted down the comments to find the winner.
The winner is MARY
Congratulations, Mary, I hope you can recognise yourself from your comment! Can you get in touch so that I can post your sock blockers to you? You can use the “contact me” button in the left hand sidebar.
Thank you very much to everyone who took part, it was a fun thing to do at the end of Blogtober!
And that’s me for today. Thank you if you’ve stuck around to the end of my very long post – I might not be writing as often but I don’t seem to be taking any fewer photos so I hope you had a brew handy! 🙂 Have a lovely weekend, whatever you’re up to, and I’ll see you again soon xx
Congratulations, Mary.
Yes, we have had a LOT of rain lately. Luckily, where I live, the ground is very sandy, so the rain quickly soaks away. I feel for those who get flooded. I love purple too, so I’d be tempted by your coat. I’m sure there’ll be more rain to come, so it will see plenty of service! xx
Sadly, I think you are right and I’m very glad of my Proper Hood for that very reason! 🙂 xx
I’ve never got on with an umbrella and always make sure I have a waterproof coat with a hood – an essential when you have little ones to chase or push in a pram. Even more so for all the years of forest school & outdoor home ed activities I’ve gone through. But the game changer was last year when I splurged on wellies that actually fit – I may no longer “need” to be outside in the rain or plough through puddles but I am looking forward to splashing again! 😂
Oh, a decent pair of wellies is a HUGE gamechanger, isn’t it? Mine are so comfortable for walking the dog in, unlike the previous pair, and it’s a joy to be out in the puddles (as long as the rest of me is dry!) 🙂 xx
Love your purple coat, I feel I need an upgrade for the slightly too small, drips the rain on my jeans, dreadful ineffective hood version I have 😆 like they say, there’s no bad weather only poor clothing ☔️ Have a great weekend
The hood on my last coat was one that rolled up into the collar so it was always a bit weedy and not quite long enough to stop the rain dripping into my face so it’s lovely to have one that’s a decent size! 🙂 xx
Lovely new coat, it will be perfect for the winter. Thanks for the mention, I have enjoyed finding your blog too. It was a bit flooded around here last week as well, the worst I’ve ever seen in fact. My dog is less keen on getting soaked and tries not to go out if it’s raining. He has to be slid across the floor and lifted over the step 🙂
Oh that’s funny, you don’t think of having to persuade a dog to go outside, do you? I was thinking about your flooded stream photos as I was writing, it’s been so wet everywhere, hasn’t it? xx
Your photo of the swans is beautiful! They look like they are glowing from the inside
That was such a lucky photo – they were sitting on the bank and the dog went to say hello to them so they got into the water quickly. I don’t usually let him near swans but he had spotted them before I did and luckily for him, they decided to get out of the way rather than show him who was boss! We were just walking past when they headed back towards the bank 🙂 xx
Hi Christine a great waterproof is essential for being outside in the rain , we also decided on waterproof trousers so we are now completely snug whilst on we walk our sons dog. Enjoy your walks this week.
We’ve got a pair of waterproof trousers (both my girls needed them for Duke of Edinburgh award hikes) but I haven’t thought about wearing those – I’m only out for an hour or so, so I tend to think that I can dry off when I get home, but it would make sense not to get so wet in the first place! 🙂 xx
Love your purple raincoat. We were in Leeds overnight a couple of months ago. I was trying out a pottery class as we came out the heavens opened. Luckily there was a retail estate around the corner so we dived into a ‘out doors’ shop and bought a raincoat each. Hubby picked up a grey coat and I thought I’d better not buy the same as he’ll keep picking up the wrong one. So I chose a lovely fuchsia pink one which looked lovely in the shop. Got outside and it is Fluorescent! I wore when I went with my friends to RHS Hyde Hall the other week. Comments about not loosing me and needing sunglasses were mentioned! Lol!
Sometimes we just need to take care of ourself, buying the coat, not trying to do it all. Sounds like an easy week was just what you needed.
It was .. but what amazed me was that by intentionally trying to do less, I still got everything that I needed to do done – and I have a new coat as well! 🙂 xx
Just love the coat (purple is my favorite colour too and I used to have purple Hunters but they were about three dogs ago) – and the glorious photos of the wet and then sunny days! Listening to fireworks now – a lovely 14 year old black labrador panicked near here on Thursday and escaped during a massive firework “display/party” luckily she was found again the following morning! Huge relief! Not a fan although our recent dogs were not bothered – but we have had very frightened ones! Have a lovely weekend!
Ah, that poor dog! To be 14 and out overnight in a frightened state – it’s not fair, is it? I’m glad she was found again. My previous wellies were Hunters although they were boring black ones – this time I decided that I wanted the bright pair instead! I’m glad your dogs were OK on Bonfire Night xx
Love your coat. The color is gorgeous and gorgeous on you!
Thank you! It is a lovely deep purple colour, much nicer than the website photo! xx
Loved to hear all about your November so far. I live close to the sea and my old dog used to love the sand, but would not go into the sea (think it was because it was moving) and she hated getting wet in the rain so we used to run home. I used to have a bright blue waterproof coat and my neighbours used to call me the blue streek.
Love it! That makes you sound like some kind of superhero and I hope you can leap tall buildings with a single bound! 🙂 xx
Not been too bad here lately, just windy but we do live on a ridge! Loving your new coat. Jo x
I expect it gets pretty windy on your ridge! Thank you, the new coat is great, I’m loving it too 🙂 xx