Here comes the ...rain.

Irritatingly, the song "Here comes the sun, d'n d'n ..." popped into my head  - complete, I may add, with choral parts, cos I've sung it many times - but really with the subtext "the rain, dammit, the rain ..." because summer has once more receded, although tonight is still warm and kinda muggy as the rain falls, gently but steadily. 

We began with light over the Firth, dancing silver under where the sun was lighting up some thin streaks of cloud, but that was really the end of the sunshine. Encouraged by the weather app that has the radar on it, I washed and hung out all the towels, taking them in hours later with only a slight residual dampness. I also put a brown loaf in the machine to bake for lunch before trying to do enough Italian to keep up with my current partner (Sally M - did you do hours on Duo yesterday?). I did a bit of admin on the computer after coffee, and spoke to my sister on the phone, and read the Scotsman online - and suddenly it was lunchtime.

We went out for a walk mid-afternoon, heading south to the lighter sky and the peaceful shelter of the Ardyne farm road through the fields. We're both currently feeling the most odd accumulation of aches and pains - arthritis? gardening? Pilates? Weather? - and sitting makes them no better. On our way back down the hill we came across these fine fellows in the photo, lined up along the fence apparently waiting for us as we reached the gap in the hedge. I took the photo as we were - don't laugh - singing to them. I kid you not - they stand solemnly listening, and another one joined them the moment we struck up. Either life on the farm is terminally boring or they really love being sung to - or they like the tune of Scarborough Fair, which is what we settled on as a duet. Crazy? Of course. 

I felt stupidly cheerful after this as we headed home for an earlyish dinner followed by online Compline. And then I watched this riveting film about a young English chap who volunteered to go out to Ukraine at the start of the war and was killed after rescuing over 400 people in hundreds of missions in the front line towns - old ladies, their dogs, their possessions... He videoed everything he did, taking us with him - if you can catch it, I recommend it. BBC2. 

I'm going shopping early tomorrow - my trips to Edinburgh gave me what felt like two weeks of holiday from this chore because we just ate out if we didn't have food. To such sad notions of holiday am I reduced ...