A busy week - the solar people came yesterday; a laborious job hand-cranking the degraded glycol out of the system and then re-filling it with fresh. And today R., a local handyman came to measure up for the replacement guttering and water butt. He then went down the builders merchants and bought the materials, and will be coming back to start it this afternoon! Unprecedented haste in Dorset!!
I sense, chatting with the guys yesterday and today, and our painter lady who resumes the interior paint on Monday, that jobs have fallen off a cliff since the start of lockdown and they are all delighted to be able to do our work. In a way, it's our method of putting money back into the local economy, so can't be bad; we're certainly not spending on anything else. Social distancing seems to be a thing of the past now - so fingers crossed! There are still less than 1 in 1,000 population in Dorset who have tested positive, but that may be more down to the lack of testing stations locally! 
We went down to the river just before lunch for a stroll, and just timed it right - we spotted a female mallard and 4 chicks plowing upstream towards the reed beds, and then a bit later, leaning over the parapet of an old stone bridge, we saw Ratty come under the bridge, paddling furiously
, and head for the embankment opposite. We do get water voles here, but they're a bit reclusive and this was definitely a water rat. 
We also spotted the first dragonflies of the season, a couple of very dark blue ones flitting around the reeds.Emergency vat of soup now bubbling on the hob - emergency in the sense that the carrots, sweet potatoes and onions were all on the verge of going off …
Waste not, want not!Glad you got your busy jobs done, Jan
Hope your "visit" goes well, Saundra.
Stay safe, all!
I had a Zoom chat with some of my gym friends this morning, I set it up, there were five of us and we had a good catch up. We might do it again next week. When Edward got home, we did the online shop for tomorrow’s delivery.
