Friday 7th August

New guests for breakfast.  I always do my standard safe breakfast for the first day to see what everyone likes before I start adding different things or go shopping.  This morning the strawberries were not looking their best – I already had a lovely bowl of nectarines on the table – and I hate wasting food, so I quickly prepped them, put them in a little water and some vanilla sugar and cooked them and they came alive so to speak and I put them out still warm on the table for the guests – It worked a treat as they ate the lot!

Paul, my builder has spent nearly three weeks repointing and building a new front wall and it will be finished by tomorrow.  I have chosen the Farrow & Ball colour ‘Railings’ for the front door.  Reflecting on when I first moved to Parklands in 1987 I think my front door was originally painted white, but over the years I have had it black, grey, blue, green, olive and now ‘Railings’.   I have decided not to put the gate back gate as I have been dog walking every night this week and counting exactly how many gates were closed, on two or three streets close by and most were open – that made my mind up. Also, I do have two resident small dogs and they get out anyway but more importantly if you sleep at the front of the house, there is nothing more annoying than hearing a gate banging closed in the middle of the night or in the early morning.