Common red soldier beetle

It's been another busy day, made worse by realising this morning that our electric gate intercom is broken, so the bell does not work and the gate cannot be opened unless one has a remote fob. Not a great thing to happen on a day when I was expecting all sorts of deliveries, including the delivery and erection of the marquee for Tommy's party.

I phoned the marquee company and told them I was leaving the gate jammed open so they could enter (I was planning on giving them the gate entry code but that is not working ) as I was off to walk Xena. They were about to set off to come to our house but the gardener had not yet come, as he was due to cut the grass before the marquee is placed over it. A few frantic phone calls later and the gardener arrived while they were offloading the truck with all the marquee bits and pieces, so he managed to quickly mow the lawn. I was then stuck at home as they had to keep asking me questions about what was going where and power sources etc. I could not let Xena into the garden as I was worried that with the gates open she could wander off, and the gates had to stay open so that other things being delivered could be dropped off.

The company that installed the electronic system for the gate promised to send someone around to try and fix it, and he came in the late afternoon as promised but he could not fix it as our system is a few versions old and it would not accept the updates. He is due back at 8am tomorrow morning and fingers crossed he can get the technology to work.

I managed to slip out to the stationers to buy card and other bits and pieces and then spent ages making table numbers, and then typing up a table seating plan. Tommy had given me some input for this plan but it needed changing and without him around to ask about the changes it became rather frustrating. When he sees it I probably will have to change it all again! 

When the gate man finally left after 6pm I took Xena for another walk, and this is when I took this photo - I have not had time for photos today other than a few on my late walk.