Sharp

Today is my birthday but it’s been a most unbirthdaylike day. In fact it’s been one of those weeks. Igor sprained his ankle earlier in the week, the drier on my washing machine has stopped working and last night another radiator sprung a leak. Before we discovered the leaking radiator the water had come through the ceiling and flooded the garage which is below it. We couldn't go to bed last night until I had swept gallons of water out of the garage and then put as many buckets as I could find on the garage floor to catch the drips. I spent this morning trying to organise delivery of a new radiator on Monday so that it can be replaced by the same engineer who is coming to fix the other one on Tuesday. After having achieved that I had to try to find out what’s happening with the washing machine dryer. I was told to check the filter which I did (almost flooded the utility room in the process) and found it wasn’t clogged which means there is something more serious wrong with the machine. I’ve left that for the moment and hung the wet towels all over the house.

Although the morning was a bit frenetic to say the least I did have a very nice afternoon. We went for afternoon tea (a proper one with tiny sandwiches and scones with jam and cream) and tried to put all the broken things out of our minds for a while. I’ve also had lots of cards and texts and Facebook messages all wishing me a happy birthday which was lovely.

I took this shot using my birthday present from Igor. I needed a sturdy tripod for using indoors for macro shots. My existing one is very light for travelling but not always steady enough for shots like these. I’m very pleased with this one. Thank you Igor.