What a week of weather…
Could some one confirm for me that this is indeed August! Not only has it felt like we are in the middle of the rainy season within a tropical rain forest but with the winds what they have been, it has also felt a bit like autumn. Yesterday Linfield’s match turned into a complete farce and had to be abandoned due to the torrential rain after 35 minutes of play. I was raging as we were 1-0 up. On the way home as I walked down off the Railway Bridge to the side of Windsor Park I was greeted with 5 – 6 inches of water in the street below. My new Timberland boots did not appreciate it one bit I can assure you!

They say every cloud has a silver lining and after a hard struggle I’ve found one! In early July we decided to replace the ornate but useless fireplace within our house with a Scandinavian wood burning stove. We got our chimney breast cut, out a new hearth fitted and the stove took pride of place within that! Since then but we haven’t had the right conditions to light it. We had to wait for the new plaster work to dry out and once it had done that it felt like the weather was too warm and humid to consider lighting it. This week however, all that changed and the inaugural fire was lit. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it as there has always been a fire bug within me dying to get out and I love the therapeutic experience of just sitting watch a real fire.

Now just to return the skirting board and paint the chamber and the room.

That said even greater satisfaction can be found in the fact the heat seemed to travel through the hall and into the kitchen. With the price of oil as it is and with all that’s going on in that market (see this post below) we may save ourselves a fortune this winter. Happy days!!

Ps Click on the title for some amazing BBC footage of just how bad the floods got - I hope there is not worse to come?