… and that can only mean one thing.

Well, two things really while we are here in the bosom of our family, but let’s take them one by one.

Firstly, it means “no alarm clock”. We can have a lie-in. But that wasn’t much use today seeing as how Yours Truly was wide awake (well, sort-of, anyway) at 04:28. Yes, my night was nothing like as good as the previous one and that filled me with a pile of regret, didn’t it? And it got me thinking too, which is always a dangerous thing to be doing. There has been many a night when I haven’t even been in bed by 04:28. Ohh how my life has changed!

But at least I could crack on with a few things that needed doing and try my best to bring things up-to-date, as well as having a couple of nice chats with friends on-line.

As dawn broke, all that I could say was that I was glad that I didn’t have plans to go anywhere. Someone has stolen the sun and the blue sky and it was all damp, grey and miserable outside.

And as the morning wore on, I could safely say that things didn’t stay like this for long. By about 08:00 I decided to close my eyes a little to give them some rest, and the next thing that I remember was that it was about 10:30. Now isn’t that more like a Sunday?

What awoke me was Rachel clattering away in the kitchen, and that brings me round nicely to the second thing that comes to mind on a Sunday, and that is the legendary Taylor Sunday Brunch. People travel for thousands of miles to attend one of these and quite rightly too because Rachel does everyone proud. Even for a vegan like me there was beans on toast and grilled potato slices with onions and carrots, apart from the usual breakfast items. And if you are a carnivore, there’s no limit to the stuff that’s put on the table to satisfy your appetite.

I mentioned the weather a little earlier, and how miserable it was looking. And so we had a change during the late morning. The most incredible torrential downpour suddenly hit us and the place was transformed into a lake in just seconds.

A short while later we had a thunderstorm with lightning and all kinds of stuff. It was definitely the hammer of the Gods that was coming down on us this morning.

As a result, all plans for today were cancelled and we just sat around and did family things. And it’s a long time since I’ve done any of that, isn’t it?

I reckoned that during the afternoon I might go and have a little snooze, but that was ruled out because the bed was already occupied by something black and furry. The weather was so miserable that not even Cujo the Killer Cat fancied going outside.

Towards late afternoon the weather did improve. We had the sun back, but there was a cool wind blowing with it, so it does look as if the weather is turning here and autumn will be on its way any time now.

Darren and I took advantage of the weather by doing some work here. There’s a three-ton Chevrolet lorry here – the same on that I drove down to Maine the other year – and the oil seals have gone in the back axle. Darren wants to overhaul it and fit new seals and bearings so we reversed it into the garage and started to strip it down. That kept us busy until tea-time.

After tea, Rachel baked a cake for a party that she was giving on Tuesday night so I lent a hand. And then after watching a little television (actually it was a big television but I watched it for a short time) I called it a day and came to bed.

It’s hard to believe just how tired you become when you don’t do very much at all.

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