Smug? Moi?

I caught myself thinking today that I'd like to go back to the hot weather now, that I was tired of the rain already  - and then I looked at the dire photos from Greece and thought of my beloved Crete and of how awful fire was and how though it rains a lot here we don't really suffer from flooding much ... and I decided it was ok. It was, however, a bore not being able to hang out the washing and have it dry by lunchtime ...

Actually I didn't really get wet today. I popped down town in the morning (this involves walking one block downhill) for a prescription and some of that marvellous salt water for squirting up your nose if, like me, you have dire reactions to allergens like the dust in the loft. I need to do this more often - walk down Argyll Street, that is, not buy Sterimar - for I met two different people with whom I had a brief but heartfelt conversation, and then called in on my friend Charlie in his lovely shop, The Trading Post, which sells the work of local artists and craftspeople. There are two easy chairs in the corner, where in a quiet moment we were able to sit and have a blether. All very restorative.

Himself was back in the loft today, swathing the tidied bits (and the untidy bits too) in plastic before the new Velux windows go in next week. (If you're interested, the previous Velux wooden windows went in in 1984; they've sort of died now.) There were increasingly apocalyptic showers throughout the afternoon, and I began to despair of getting a walk. I did my Italian instead and made several stupid mistakes. More despair.

Then it eased slightly. It was already 5pm, but the rain had declined to a drizzle. It looked brighter to the south. We both took off. My blip shows our reward. The road began to steam in the sun, as the cumulus towered above Bute and swallowed Arran in gloom, and we walked between scented hedgerows and golden fields all refreshed by the rain. The road was almost deserted except for the bus into town, and distant oyster-catchers skirled on the shore. I'd done it again and chosen the best time of day and the best place to be. 

As I say: smug? Moi? Well, yes. Just a bit.

Extra photo of the view to the south over the fields.