Plums and prunes

I do have a nice neighbour.. just to dispel any myth that I only have difficult neighbours. She kindly dropped off a huge bowl of Victoria plums from her tree.  Our poor sad specimen only produced 4 for us this year but they were delicious.. these are wonderful too.. lucky us. 
The prune in the title refers to my husband up a ladder pruning the climbing hydrangea!!  It needs an annual trim to get it out of the gutters and out from behind downpipes etc.  While he was up there he complained of a terrible smell of sewage while at the top and then also again at the bottom on the other side of the plant. Especially when his head was close to the wall.. he called me in to do some detective work.. it does smell of drains.. oh dear.. we sniffed high and low and then he carried on working.. he eventually found the culprit.. a pigeon latrine!!  they clearly sit tight on a perch and crap (scuse the rude word) down the wall and a huge build up of excrement is stuck to the wall and the plant causing an horrific pong!!  I think when the leaves drop we will hose down the wall.. revolting birds.. we have far too many round here just now. 
I never did finish sorting my wardrobe today.. just too warm really for a lot of clothes sorting so I spent a bit of time enjoying the stillness and the heat of a muggy day in the garden (not much sun) interspersed with doing a little knitting indoors (hence the view through the window) 
I am rather devastated that the two ladies who have helped in my garden for the past 4 years, fortnightly (or at least that was the original plan) haven't been for 6 weeks.. I texted last week and heard nothing then finally a text saying that due to unforseen circumstances they would not be coming back. ... hmm.. call me old fashioned but it would have been nice to have a little warning or at least a phone call to explain. I am now left wondering if one of them has fallen ill or died. I hope not but now I have to try and find somoene to come and help tidy up before the winter... not easy and sadly I am unable to do very much at all these days.