By the time we woke up yesterday, the rain was supposed to have already been here for a couple of hours, but when I checked the forecasts, they all said around 10am. I kept looking up to the sky and it did look a bit cloudy. But we’ve had promises before and I wasn’t holding out much hope.
The poet was working from home ahead of a hospital checkup and his first meeting was at 9am. I tried to keep the dog as quiet as possible, but it was bin day and the neighbours were making noise he wanted to shout at. The greyhound across the road was off on his walk. And…hark! Was that thunder I could hear rumbling in the distance? (Clue: Yes, it was!) So he was barking at that as well.
I washed a load of crocks and kept us both supplied with cups of tea. I fed the birds. And I watched the sky. Bang on 10am, I kid you not, the first fat drops of rain plopped on the slabs. Yay! It was short-lived, only a shower. But the thunder was still growling in the distance and before long it started to rain again. And it rained, and it rained, and it rained! Yay!
I wrote up yesterday’s blog post, chose the image, posted it everywhere, and even remembered to add the free link to the one on Medium for non-members to read. Well, if the blog’s free to read on the website and on Patreon, it also ought to be available for free on Medium. Once the poet had finished his Teams calls he could keep an eye on the dog while he worked at the table. I started today’s post.
I refreshed my memory on the status of the republishing work, and off I went. But when the poet left for his appointment, I was back in charge of the dog. He wouldn’t go out in the rain, other than when I did to have a look at a down pipe at the front of the house. About halfway down rainwater was spurting out like a fountain, which means the pipe and/or the drain is/are blocked. So there’s another job for the poet to do. He’s really into these household jobs now we actually own the house! He’s like a different person.
We had a set of proofs back from the editing client, so I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with that and signing off the corrections the client and I made between us last time. I alternated between the proofreading and watching the rain. At one point I watched a wood pigeon on the ridge of a house at the back, directly opposite the office window, washing under his arms. It’s so funny when they do that.
We have a long weekend ahead, then we’re taking the rest of the week off. We’re having a proper rest, although we are going away for a few days at some point over the holiday. If I have time today, there will be blog posts scheduled on the website, on Patreon and on Medium. I just won’t be able to add the free links to the Medium posts until I’m back at work, and I won’t have the Patreon artwork to upload to Instagram. But the posts will still appear, if I get chance to write and schedule any.
These are likely to be the bank holiday post, the August wrap, the month ahead, today’s roundup, and maybe a book review. I actually have 5 book reviews waiting to be written up. If I get onto a roll, I may do them all one after the other. Three of them are a trilogy anyway, so I’d like to get all of those done at the same time if I can.
Whatever you’re up to at the weekend, I hope it’s a good one. I’ll see you on the other side!
This post appears on Words Worth Writing, Medium and Patreon.
Have a lovely time away! We don’t get our long weekend until next week, and then we hit the ground running with my mom’s surgery, the book fest, etc.