Wednesday

Our kitchen fitter had a personal commitment in the morning which meant we could return to our normal routine rather than getting up earlier than usual.

Our fitter arrived at lunchtime, complete with a substitute light to work by due to our currently non-working ceiling light. He worked through into the early evening which meant I had to visit mum on my own. She was partly herself today but suffering with the sniffles.

When I arrived home, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the new cooker units were now in place. I am looking forward to using them when the time comes.

This evening, we dined in William Withering. It has a lovely friendly atmosphere and you can’t go wrong with a meal and a glass of wine for around £10.

Overnight the weather had turned from sunshine to showers. Mr C was working from home so I couldn’t do round the house circuits to meet my ‘Walking Challenge’ step count. This meant that despite the weather I had to head out on a walk… As I set off on my walk, the rain had eased off and there was only a slight moisture in the air.

I stopped to take a photograph and when I turned around a gentleman who had briefly paused from his cycle ride asked me what I was  photographing. It was difficult for me to explain that I was taking a photo to show the sudden shift in weather from the hot sunny days we had been experiencing recently. I think the question was his excuse for starting a conversation. He shared a lot of his life experiences with me; monetary hardships in early life, the sadness of the death of his wife and bringing up two young children on his own, meeting and marrying his current wife who also had children (four) and how proud he is of all their achievements. I learned that he lives just around the corner from me so there is a chance will bump into each other again on our travels around the local area.

In other news… the ducks that were in my garden when I returned from my Sunday jaunt to Broughton Castle were sleeping quite happily in my garden this morning before waking and flying off. I was sitting quietly after I had returned from my walk when I heard a clunk on the roof causing me to look outside. The ducks were just landing on my garden path. They spent the rest of the afternoon in my garden, sitting, exploring sleeping, preening and eating. The male duck was very protective of the female duck, following her around everywhere. I think the lady duck may be choosing a suitable place to set up a nest…

Strong gusts of wind outside the window shutters woke me up just before the alarm went off. I looked out of the window to find several sunbeds had blown into the hotel pool and that the balcony table’s cloth and cushions had blown onto the floor. We made our way downstairs to breakfast which was inside rather than outside due to the weather. There was a good spread of both continental hot and cold food to choose from.

After breakfast we had intended to go on a walking tour of Ravello to find out what there was to see but due to the extremely strong gusts of wind we decided to go into the Cathedral (Duomo) instead. The main entrance to the Cathedral is via two twelfth century bronze doors cast with 54 scenes of the Passion. On entering the Cathedral, it is notable that the floor slopes quite steeply upwards towards the altar giving the impression of walking up towards God. There are two huge mosaic-covered pulpits; one on either side of the aisle.

To the left of the altar is a small  chapel dedicated to St Pantaleone at the back of which is a small passageway that leads to the Holy Relic of St Pantaleone; a vial of his blood that becomes translucent every 27th July, the day of his martyrdom. I was quite dismayed that a tour guide was talking loudly to her group just outside the chapel, a place that I felt should be a place for reflection rather than noise! After she had gone I entered the chapel and visited the relic which is placed behind glass and contained in a metal grille.

After leaving the Cathedral we sat in the square for some time drinking tea before setting off on a walk to find the tourist information centre so that we could buy a multi-site ticket to Ravello’s attractions. We arrived at where it should have been to find that it had recently moved location and so we set off to find the new location, taking in some spectacular views along the way. As we paused to take some photos at the top of a flight of steps, there was a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass. An upper window had banged against its shutter and shattered into the street, narrowly missing Mr C.

We continued walking along S. Giovanni del Torro past the Palazzo Avino Hotel and the Hotel Parsifal both of which were on our list of options for a meal one evening. Nearby we paused to look at the war memorial and memorial stone to Umberto I, King of Italy before finally reaching the tourist information office. We found out that the ticket we required was only available at the Cathedral, in the ticket office we had tried earlier in the day but it was closed!

We continued our walk, looking for a lunch venue that served Pizza, ending up back almost where we had started our walk. After we had finished our pizzas, which were delicious, we returned to the Cathedral to find the ticket office now open so we were able to purchase our multi-site tickets. Presumably the ticket office is only open when the Cathedral is shut between 12.00 and 17.00 hours. However with the ticket we were able to enter the Cathedral even though it was closed.

We started with the Cathedral museum which has many interesting items including a reliquary bust of St Barbara which contains her skull. A former Bishop insisted that holes be drilled into the bust so that he could check inside to see the relic. Our second visit of the day to the Cathedral was much more tranquil than our first and we paused to light  candles before we left and I offered silent prayers.

Our plan for an evening meal was the Villa Amora where we had eaten lunch the previous day but after getting slightly lost on our way there we arrived to find that they only did lunches. We settled on a plan B and booked a table in the Hotel Rufolo before making our way back to our hotel to relax and freshen up before dinner. For my meal I chose sword fish which came with roast potatoes, tomatoes and olives followed by rum baba.

We had a perfect seat overlooking the Amalfi Bay with its twinkling lights and saw some fireworks in the distance. Closer by there was a son et lumière set to the music of Wagner lighting up the Villa Rufolo .

Back in the hotel room we sampled another of the local wines. It was then that I realised that ‘it was forbidden’ to consume any food or drink that had not been purchased in the hotel and that the fridge was not to be used for for personal items either. Ooops!!

As I left for work this morning it was blustery and chilly but on the plus side the sun was shining. On my journey to work a particularly vibrant rainbow in a strange patch of light caught my eye although sadly I had no time to stop and enjoy it. As I parked my car on arrival at work I noticed another rainbow in front of a rather ominous looking sky. Looking the other way towards my office building the sky was blue with a few light fluffy clouds.

A few minutes into the five minute walk to my office it started to spit with rain. I was wondering if I would make it to the office without getting soaked. The blustery wind meant the use of an umbrella was impossible. Just after the half way point on my walk the winds picked up and so did the rain… The rain then turned to heavy hail and the wind speed picked up even more. A few moments later the wind had picked up such a speed that the hailstones were blowing horizontally.

On the final approach to my office building I had to face into the wind that was increasing in speed. I found it incredibly difficult to walk and had to stop several times partly to avoid being blown off my feet. A few feet away from me a metal fence and signs were blown flat. For a while I turned my back to the wind and took a few paces backwards until I was near enough to the building to be shielded a little from the wind.

As I entered the reception area I was completely out of breath and rather than key in I just plonked my bags on the nearest table to recover. One side of me was soaked and water was streaming down that side of my face, the other side of me was completely dry. My glasses were steamed up and I could just make out two of my colleagues by the reception desk. One of them was most concerned and asked me several times if I was all right. I said I was fine, which I was apart from being a bit winded and half soaked. She organised the other colleague to fetch some tissues so I could dry myself off a bit.

I was conscious of the fact that I was probably looking quite disheveled but when I had caught my breath I entered the office. As I entered one of my colleagues looked up to say hello (as is usual) and gasped loudly ‘Oh Cherie’!! Causing everyone to look round… By the time I got to my desk (which is in the middle of the building) I had caused quite a stir and my immediate team members were chuckling away merrily and I have to admit although I couldn’t see myself I was rather amused too.

As I took my coat off and put my bags under my desk, due to the cold and wet my wedding ring slipped off my finger onto the floor. I picked it up but where was my engagement ring… It wasn’t immediately visible!!! I retraced my steps inside the building (leaving my colleagues searching around my desk area) before returning to empty the contents of my bag. There it was at the bottom which was a relief to me and it saved another of my colleagues who was about to be sent on a mission (not by me) to retrace my steps outside the office.

Entry to work dramas now concluded I quickly made myself more presentable and a colleague provided me with a hot water bottle to dry off the portion of my skirt that was saturated. I would like to say the day got better but unfortunately it was a day of complicated (non routine) work problems to sort out…

The first thing I did when I got home after work was wash my hair and immediately everything felt so much better

It is my turn at Vision & Verb today.  My post is about the extreme weather that has been taking place in the British Isles recently.

I invite you to join me there.

Genesis 6

12 And the Lord said: “Behold, I shall send a flood over the land, for I am sore weary of this gay marriage thing.

13 Not really.  It’s clearly nothing to do with that, it’s about climate change, though verily that shalt be denied by he who they call the Environment Secretary, for he shall say the badgers did move the goalposts.”

14 And the Lord did go out to a man who they called David of the Camerons, from the Land of Eton, who the people did call No-ideah, for  more often than not he had no idea what to do.

15 And the Lord said unto No-ideah: “Build thee an ark of gopher wood.  Actually, scratch that.  Just spend thee thy days saying thou hast been meeting with Cobra, which doth sound macho but meaneth nothing, while the floods do rise upon the land of the Levels.

16 Visit them not for 40 days and 40 nights, but allow thy briefers to blame the Environment Agency till the cuts do start to be mentioned and the man they call Pickles doth blunder.

17 And thou shalt wait until the floods do fall upon the lands of the Shires, yea, even unto the playing fields of Eton where the gym becometh waterlogged.

18 And only then, finally, shalt thou try and get a grip and shalt say: ‘enough of the blame!’ (for though realiseth thou is getting the blame thouself, thou and not the Environment Agency).

19 ‘Behold,’ thou shalt say, ‘austerity is over! I do suddenly overflow with money so that you may see me as leaderly and not turn your votes away from me’.  And there shall be no mention of the cuts that thou in thy foolishness has imposed on the Environment Agency which has basically caused this mayhem”

20 Thus spoke the Lord.  And through all the floods, George Osborne was never seen in the land.*

So endeth the lesson with additional food for thought…

… from think Defence.

*Received via email