An August Round Up.

The first weekend in August saw us going for a couple of walks one quite late on Saturday because we had had a very lazy day at home. I took a picture of these collared doves because they are birds I love. 

We had a pair nest in the garden of our previous house every year and I loved the way they were always cosied up together. 

It seems our old landlord had every tree, bush and all the ivy cut down which must have been such a shock to all the resident birds, he also had all the flowerbeds dug out and then grassed everything over. If I had known that I would have taken more with me when I left. It absolutely broke my heart to see it.

 

Sunday’s walk was a blissful amble between a couple of nearby villages. There were loads of blackberries out already so I was telling himself how my Mum used to make bramble jelly every year which he had never had. 

In the evening he was off to the cinema as they had started something called Star Wars Sunday, basically they are showing all the Star wars films in order over 10 weeks, and yes he’s going to them all.

 

On Monday I had the day off to meet up with Charlotte for some belated birthday fun. I caught the bus over to Charlbury where she met me at the station in her car and we drove over to Burford for the day. We parked at Burford Garden Centre where we had a mooch and bought a couple of bits which we popped into the car before walking into Burford itself. I loved that they have all these old pieces dotted around, the sign on this coach did make me laugh. I can so relate. 

We went for lunch at Huffkins before a wander around the town and into any shops that took our fancy. 

We headed back to the garden centre late afternoon for a cup of tea and piece of cake. Charlotte then dropped me off at the train station in Charlbury where I had another train journey complete with an unwieldy plant! It does seem such a good idea at the time when I buy these things, I really need to start thinking about how I get them home!

 

Saturday the 10th we got up and went blackberry picking, something I haven’t really done since I was a kid because whilst I love the flavour of blackberries I hate all the pips so never eat them now. After seeing so many rip ones last week I had messaged my Mum to ask if she still had all her jam making stuff and if so, did she fancy making some bramble jelly! She answered in the affirmative and I knew I was going to see her on the 11th at my brother’s. 

I don’t know whether it was all the rain this year but the fruits were huge and before we knew it we had picked 2 bags of blackberries and some bonus wild plums. We walked home via Sainsburys to buy some jam making sugar. Weighing our booty when we got in we discovered we had picked 6 kilos of berries!

 

Later that afternoon we went out for another walk as Himself had discovered a new to us footpath. It went through a new housing estate and next to them were some fields. We were surprised to see them full of grape vines. 

We could have been in the South of France not the outskirts of a (constantly growing) urban town.  

 

On Sunday we headed over to my brother’s early afternoon for a family catch up and to test out the new barbeque he had treated himself too. 

It was a lovely afternoon sitting out on their new decking, enjoying the sun and admiring their finally finished garden. We got home that evening and Himself headed off to the cinema so I sat out to watch the Perseids meteor shower. 

As the 12th was meant to be when the shower was at its peak, we both lay out in the garden loungers for a couple of hours watching in awe. 

Even with the amount of light pollution here it was an amazing show with an incredible mixture of slow moving and fast streaking meteors lighting up the sky. Of course we both then had to discuss the 1970’s TV series Day of the Triffids

luckily we both woke up the next day able to see and not overrun by giant walking plants!

 

My Mum messaged me to send me pictures of jam in progress 

and to tell me my cousin’s daughter Chiara had called to ask if she could come and stay the next day for a very last-minute flying visit. 

It was so last minute I think she ended up going with Mum to all her various clubs and activities as Mum hadn’t had time to cancel them. Seriously my Mum is busier now than she ever was when she worked, I swear she is literally never at home! 

I can only hope I get to enjoy the same lifestyle when (if ever) I finally get to retire.  

The pair of them also popped in here on the Wednesday afternoon for a cup of tea as I was working from home that day. It was lovely to see Chiara again and catch up on all the news. It turned out she had had a crazy journey to get here from Heathrow, accidentally ending up on the Elizabeth line to London. This meant then getting a train back out of London to Oxford and bus from there to Mum’s village. Whilst they were here we looked up the airline coach timetable which got her back to Heathrow the next day in a third of the time.

 

The 16th spelled boiler dramas, and quite scary ones at that. It started with a guy coming out to do the annual gas safety inspection. Randomly the boiler in this house is in a cupboard in the living room because that is where the original teeny tiny kitchen was. We actually went to see one of these houses that hadn't had a kitchen extension and the kitchen's were so small you could literally touch the walls whichever way you stood!

 

So I was sitting in the kitchen working as the gas engineer did the needful. The minute he took the cover off the boiler his equipment went crazy at the same time as our carbon monoxide alarm also went crazy! To cut to the chase he had to isolate the boiler as it was dangerous. 

Thankfully the rental agency were able to get an engineer from Worcester (the company that makes the boiler) out within a week. That engineer arrived and attached some sort of meter to the boiler which also went crazy as soon as he switched it on again, in fact he said afterwards that it gave off the highest reading he had ever seen! He asked what had made us call him  out so I said it just happened to be a gas safety inspection and he said in that case we were incredibly lucky it happened when it did.Which was pretty damn scary frankly. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer after all.  

I'm pleased to say everything is now fixed.

That same week Himself had announced that he was planning to go out to Avebury at the weekend because the podcast he and his friends have reviewing vintage tv shows, was planning to do an episode about the 1970’s children’s television programme The Children Of The Stones. 

I had heard of it (mostly because Charlotte is a big fan) but can’t recall if I watched it back in the day. Apparently, the show was filmed at Avebury so Himself was going to see if it would be suitable for him to record his part of the podcast live there, or at the very least record a few trailers for the show.

As it has been at least 20 years (and probably more like 30) since I last visited Avebury, I invited myself along.

 

We duly got up bright and early on Saturday and caught a train to Swindon. From there we caught a bus out to Avebury which took about 30 minutes. Thankfully it didn’t take long to go from the outskirts of Swindon, which look like the Armageddon has happened, to sweeping countryside and rolling hills.

We weren’t quite sure where to get off but another passenger told us she was heading there too and gave us the nod when it was the right stop. 

It was a gorgeous day, and still the school holidays, but I think we were both somewhat taken aback by the sheer volume of people everywhere

This was me trying to take a picture without too many people in it!

We did a leisurely circuit of the stones, waiting for quite considerable time at some points for it to be clear enough for Himself to get the shots he wanted and to be able to record a couple of bits. 

We had a look in a couple of the very expensive crystal/pagan/witchcraft shops and went into the little general store where we bought some local eggs and beer.  Finally I checked out the National Trust shop. 

We decamped to the ridiculously busy pub where I managed to snag a table outside whilst Himself queued for about 20 minutes waiting to be served. As our table was literally 2 feet away from the bus stop and facing the road, we saw the bus coming in the distance so were able to finish the last of our drinks and step across to the bus stop just as it arrived. Loads of people piled on, I’m guessing taking advantage of the £2 bus fare scheme that is currently still running. All in all a lovely day out.   

 

The following weekend was the August Bank Holiday which means only one thing, Stonor Park Craft Fair! As usual Mum and I went on the Friday and luckily for us we chose the one day with decent weather. Soo was meant to be coming with us but sadly had to cancel so Mum asked at her knitting/craft group and one of the ladies there, randomly also called Sue was able to come.

It seemed slightly bigger this year and back to it's best. We all thoroughly enjoyed our day and bought something.

I got some cards and a couple of presents for friends, I also bought Himself some artisan coffee. My best purchase was a new everyday handbag to replace my current one which is falling to bits. 

It's sustainable and made from recycled plastic bottles. It's a tad smalled than my previous bag but overall I am very pleased with it. When we had shopped and browsed our fill we headed to a pub near Mum's village that does amazing pizzas which made a delicious end to a fun day out.

On the Saturday we walked to the nearby village of Upton to try the newly reopened pub, now just called The George instead of The George and Dragon, I am intrigued why so many feel the need to drop the dragon bit, but I digress. The pub itself was still being refurbished but the bar in the garden was open so we had a coupe of pints. 

August ended as it started with a lovely walk out.

This time to Blewbury via Upton where we happened upon an ice cream van. The lady driving stayed in the drivers seat and her son came back to serve us what were the biggest ice creams I have ever seen in my life. So big in fact I could juggle both it and my camera! The moral of the tale don't let a bored child loose in an ice cream van. They were absolutely delicious.

We had a pub pitstop at the Red Lion and another on the way back at our favourite pub The Fleur, what could be better than the glorious countryside and a pint.

I do realise with these monthly round ups I have been slack on showing any purchases, you must think I have finally cured my shopping habits.....if only. 

The problem is I often can't remember what I purchased when but trust me there have most certainly been several brooch purchases and one or two dresses along the way!

The only thing I haven't really been adding too this year is the handbag collection but let me show you a couple of new editions.

Another Corde bag to add to my collection, and a gorgeous little 1920's mesh bag in almost perfect condition.

I know I definitely bought this dress

I also got a new pair of trainers, just don't look too closely at the back of right one where you can see the result of where it was rubbing my heel, bah, I need to wear them in a bit more. 

I will be back soon (I hope) with September, which includes Bournemouth, Kelmscott and so, so, so much rain.