Family time

As we reached the all weather path this morning, nearing the castle end of our early morning walk, we spotted a family sitting on a picnic blanket, in a clearing. It was mum, dad and two kids. It looked a bit odd, though smart when you consider how hot it was forecast to get. It was not long after 5am, when most people are fast asleep.

Mind you, the garbage truck arrived in our street just as I was leaving the house and I’m sure the constant reversing beep would have woken up quite a few people as it slowly backed towards the park end. It’s a great idea having the bin collectors start early to avoid the heat but, really, can’t they turn the annoying beep off?

I could hear it every time it went up a different street, even from the Avenue of Trees.

Anyway, after touching the castle outer wall, we returned along the grass as the sun started to rise, like we do every morning these days. As we reached the all weather path, I spotted the family all standing, phones pointed towards the golden sunrise.

They made a lovely family group. At one point, the father took a photo with the youngest child silhouetted against the sun. It may have been an excellent photograph. Of course, I’ll never know.

I thought it was a lovely family thing to do; witnessing a golden sunrise during a heatwave summer.

I think we’ve seen every sunrise we’ve been here, given our early walks since Mirinda left (May 27) with, at first my stupidly early rising and, secondly, the excessive heat. There’s only been clouds a few times.

Gardener Dave and Tommy senior would have liked a few clouds today as they toiled away in the garden. They managed to take out a lot of weeds and removed heaps of dead plants from pots. Obviously there wasn’t a lot of grass to cut, so they strimmed the wild carrot instead.

They also managed to sweat an awful lot.

When they arrived, Tommy asked to store three big bottles of water in the fridge. Obviously I said yes. It’s good to see them drinking lots of fluids. I made sure he topped them up with more cold water, before they left for their next job.

In Sweden, I bought Dave a box of ten miniature bottles of different brands of aquavit. He was very pleased with them. I told him to put them in the freezer. He was eager to get home.