Tunstall, UK - Rainy Day

Today was pretty uneventful but still nice. It was raining all morning and pretty hard at times. I took Teddy out for a very quick walk in the morning and then around 11:00am I got myself all dressed and snuggled in my coat and hat and found their large golf sized umbrella and headed out to find the local church which is suppose to be about 5 minutes walk only. Well I crossed the field and could see the church tower but the houses on the main street were blocking it and as I walked around one house and down toward the end of the street I realized I was already almost 15 minutes late and was soaking wet and still hadn't figure out how to physically get to the church. I also passed two young cyclists who, clearly are addicted to their sport because they came out to ride in this weather on these country roads in just their the Lycra bike shorts and t-shirts you see the rider wearing in the Tour de France. I did feel bad when I finally made it back to the house because one of them had a tire issue and they had stopped in the grass near one of the houses and I should have let them stand under the umbrella so they would have an easier time to fix the bike but I hadn't thought of it until I arrived back to the house. Not very charitable of me since I missed mass and should have done a good deed instead. It's funny a New York friend wrote on facebook yesterday about people who are obsessed with jogging and run even in the middle of a storm and how cyclists are the same way. They're addicted to the adrenaline apparently but really to ride when it's just so wet and miserable how could that be worth it. I had a huge umbrella and I was totally soaked when I returned.

At about 3pm the sun came out so I took Teddy for a longer walk, although still not that long since there were large puddles everywhere and Teddy just loves to jump in them, run through them and then shake all the excess water all over me.

So I basically got some reading in and finished the Agatha Chrisitie mystery I had stared a few days ago, "Elephants can Remember" and then started the Alan Bennett book "The Uncommon Reader" which is a fictional story (at least I hope so) of Queen Elizabeth becoming obsessed with books and it taking over her life for several years and how her staff and family were hiding them on her but ultimately how it inspired her to write a book. It was a very quick yet funny read and a perfect book for a rainy day in the England countryside and this area of the country was also featured in one part so it's funny to now know exactly where they're talking about but on a more personal level. And because it's only 7:25pm and the kitties and Teddy have all been feed I get to start another one of the Christie mysteries I got at the used book store in Aldebourgh the other day. It's really so rare to be able to read so much in one day but when you're in the country and there is no bus service on Sundays and it's wet and cold well this is as good as it gets.

I took a cute picture of Qweni, on the table and tried to get one of the Sooty cat playing on the scratching post but she's so crazy when it comes to pictures she refuses to be photographed. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch her off guard but she's a smart one this little SC! And I took a picture of the garden/pond I look out at from the kitchen when I'm reading or working on the computer.