The last Pimm's of Summer..

What a glorious week of weather we have had, culminating in two days of 30 degree temperatures this weekend. Of course we spent it on the beach, as did thousands of others here in Brighton - in fact in 9 years here I have never seen so many people out walking along the promenade and swimming in the sea. We had picnics on the beach on both Saturday and Sunday, Daughter, Grandson and I, and also swam in the sea along with everyone else. Grandson is a positive water baby and was in the sea for about three hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday! The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he had scratched his stomach because he wouldn't stop surfing onto the shingle! In spite of the hot sun and clear blue skies, there was a lovely breeze and very big waves crashing onto the shore, so it was an exciting thing to be doing, but by Saturday evening he was really sore, and on Sunday he was pretty much black and blue. He had a good go of his Boogie Board too and that was slightly less painful. Anyway, great fun was had by all, and we retreated to my balcony at about 4pm on Sunday and sat in the sun with the last of the Pimm's, watching the sun go down. Not surprisingly, Grandson collapsed in front of the TV and we didn't hear a peep out of him. When they went home he apparently crashed out and slept like a log. We all felt that we had made the most of the glorious weekend - what a great ending to the Summer - unexpected and all the better for that.

It was also the last of the Shoreham Flyover Car Boot Sales on Sunday, and of course I didn't want to miss that. It was almost too hot to walk around, and lots of people had brought their umbrellas to use as parasols - what a good idea: I wished I had thought of it. The field was packed with sellers, right down to the bottom, and again, I had never seen so many people out and about enjoying the sunshine. We found some lovely bargains, and I saw lots of things I would have bought for my imaginary antique shop!

As I was driving back to go to the beach, Son phoned from Poland. I told him that we were enjoying Mediterranean weather and temperatures and he sounded rather envious!
They were due to fly back on Monday, so I guess they are back in London now, though I haven't heard from him yet

My students have both gone home - the unpleasant Austrian vegetarian went home on Saturday morning (hurrah), leaving her room in a disgusting state and full of rubbish for me to clear up (not that I was surprised). She was possibly the most humourless person I have ever met (and that's saying something). I didn't know that she was vegetarian until after she arrived, but gamely took it on and cooked her what I thought were inventive and varied meals for two weeks. In return I got not one "thank you", she came down later and later for breakfast every day without a word of apology, and pulled a frightful face at me when I asked her to clean her bathroom at the end of the two weeks! By contrast, the other Student was a really nice Russian man, a chemist, who was unfailingly polite and charming, and always told me if he was going to be in or out. He also took every advantage of being here in England: he made two trips to London, went on a theatre trip to see "Phantom the Opera", took coach trips to both Cambridge and Stonehenge and and spent his last Saturday going to Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral. He left on Sunday morning and was obviously sad to go. Of course he left his room and bathroom immaculately clean. Ah well, students come and students go, and you never know what you're going to get.

I think that's about it.. Summer is really over now I guess. I can bring in the parasol and the geraniums from the balcony and look forward to a cosy Autumn...