Last few working days at The Winchelsea

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It's 23.08 on the 30th April. We're well on our way to bring out here for 2 months out of 5.
We've had a pretty standard last few days here at The Winchelsea, so I doubt this entry will be too long. We got up on Tuesday for breakfast and headed straight out into the garden to get to work tidying the the place up. Matt and I weeded the beds while Rosie and Kate undertook the exciting task of sorting wood chips from leaves. We carried on with this until lunch, then continued in much the same way in the afternoon - until around 3.30. Tuesday must have been a particularly unremarkable day as I can't remember much more than this - the last few days have taken such a similar form they begin to blend into one another.
Actually, thinking about it I remember now that I decided to head out for an afternoon walk Tuesday, and headed out for about an hour down the road we are on, then down a road branching off of it. It is incredible how straight the roads are here and how flat the country is. I remember, down the side road, I walked for about 10-15 minutes and the cars zipping past on the main road when I looked back seemed still only a stones throw away. This side road, dotted with large farmhouses and other properties, came to an abrupt end about a mile down - as if there was no more need for anymore road so it just stops unceremoniously at the edge of a small wood. I turned around here and headed back.
Wednesday, yesterday, was must the same - weeding, weeding, weeding. I had attempted in the morning to weed a bank covered in pebbles -however after a couple of hours the bank looked no clearer, and the stones prevented me getting any of the roots out anyway, so I gave up. The girls went that afternoon to set up for a 300 breakfast for the mayor of Ottawa, and once they'd returned we finished for the day.
The day was especially warm, the temperature, I think, getting up to 20•C - remarkable as this time last week we are wearing jumpers, coats and gloves. We spent a little while in the garden playing catch - the sun seemed to glorious to miss - then crashed in the cool sitting room before a dinner of shepherds pie. I went for another walk that evening, going the other way down the road, watching a spectacular sunset speared by the last few Vs of geese flying north for the summer. On the way back, on the ridiculously straight road that the Winchelsea is on I played a little game and timed how long it took between first seeing s cars headlights on the horizon of the road, and the car reaching me. Bearing in mind I was already halfway down the road, and walking towards the car, it took 1.09 minutes. The speed limit is 60mph, so that was just over a mile I could see down the road, at dusk. There's a joke about Winnipeg (which is even flatter than this area) that a guys dog ran away from home, and he could still see it running two days later.
As you may have already guessed, today was fairly similar to the last couple of days. Rosie and Kate went to serve coffee in the morning at the Mayors Breakfast, which I would have been very much up for if we hadn't needed to be ready by 6.30 - so I was happy to let the girls do it as they seemed pretty eager. The work today was a little better as I have started listening to 'stuff you should know' podcasts, and weeding areas that actually look a little more presentable when I'm done. It was warm again today, around 18•c, and we were all pretty wiped when we came in at around 3. I napped for an hour or two, then read my book until a dinner of pulled pork, salad and coleslaw.
Since the evening was still lovely Rosie, Matt and I got a softball, two mitts and a bat from the garage and played a weird mix of cricket, rounders and baseball until the light started fading and I went for a quick run while I had the chance.
Tomorrow we're getting the bus into Ottawa, so will be more to report from then I'm sure - and then, Monday, we're off again!

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