June

On Tuesday 9 we had to call a local pest controller, as bees had taken to investigating a couple of nesting sites under the eaves. It was almost a year to the day since the same thing happened last year, and, as then, the pest controller was in the area, and called the same morning to deal with them.

Roger played a couple of matches in the bowls club competitions, winning one and losing one.

On 19 June we had a barbecue lunch. We tried our own potatoes, grown in tubs on the patio, and were very pleased with them. We had remembered to use only freshly-bought compost, unlike last year when we used some of our own making from the garden which had become infested with ants, leading to disastrous results.

Afterwards we played a short game of boules, won by Teresa – see the evidence on the fence.

On Sunday 28 we met up with Helen in Oxford, with a brief visit to an exhibition at Modern Art Oxford*, a longer browse in the shops and finally a sandwich lunch al fresco on the steps in Bonn Square.

* https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/

Teresa and Jay had a three day break at Alton Towers on Tuesday 30 June - Thursday 2 July. They had originally planned this for the end of May, but had to reschedule because of the uncertainties following the tragic accident on the Smiler ride. They started out very early on the Tuesday morning, with Teresa driving there for the first time herself over a carefully researched route, arriving at 7.30 am to leave bags at the hotel, where they were to spend Tuesday and Wednesday nights. An unexpected but welcome bonus was that the porter arranged for them to have the hotel breakfast, without charge, before they set off for the park. Three energetic and tiring days in the park followed – coinciding with heat wave conditions – where they re-experienced many old favourites together with several features new since their last visit. They returned late on Thursday evening as the weather was breaking.

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