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On a bright and sunny morning Jackie drove us out to Flexford Bridge to survey the scene that had been waterlogged on our last visit.
These muddy-looking snowdrops had been struggling to keep their heads above water then.
Banks of others lined the verges of
Flexford Lane which offers another view of Sway Tower, otherwise known as Peterson’s Folly.
The numerous catkins no longer bore droplets of rain.
On that earlier day sheep had held the higher ground that led down to the Avon stream;
today they cropped the fields of Bridge Farm.
To reach the livestock I had walked up a pitted byway,
passing a number of derelict sheds,
holes in one of which neatly framed a group of distant trees.
This afternoon Jackie cut back the clematis Campaniflora in the front garden. Unfortunately this climbs on the arch alongside one of the three manhole covers laid along the pipeline to the septic tank that carries our effluent. She decided to check this one. it was full of thick shit and toilet paper soup. She tipped a couple of buckets down it, to no avail. I took over the task and had the bright idea of shovelling out the mess, putting it in a bucket, and emptying it into the last hole. It hasn’t helped, which means there is a blockage between the first two manholes. It seems that the problem stems from inadequate equipment in the guest bathroom above. I deferred the next stage to tomorrow. It always pays to think about a problem. And I was knackered.
Probably everyone knows that unpleasant aromas linger in the nostrils long after you’ve scrubbed up. Today was no exception. It seemed like a touch of sea air was needed to blast the pong away. We therefore drove out to Calshot
just before sunset,
where a sailboarder was wending his way back to his car.
Against the backdrop of Fawley Power Station, boats and buoys rested on the silt at low tide,
whilst geese honked overhead.
This evening we dined on belly of pork served with boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli. Jackie drank Hoegaarden whilst I drank more of the Cabernet Sauvignon opened a couple of days ago.