It’s a scorcher here and no mistake. The Ship’s Dog is sunning himself on the deck, though I won’t allow him to do that for much longer. An area, which has been shut off from the Ship’s Dog, has been ‘treated’ to some weed killer, and I’ve been up the rigging twice to hang out laundry. I’ve strimmed the front garden – lost the Ship references there – and have left the strimmer out for the recycling, or scrap merchants; whoever claims it first. I was happily strimming and thought: I smell burning. I stopped, sniffed the strimmer, then carried on. I was just finishing when I noticed smoke coming from the strimmer, so I quickly unplugged it, and left it outside. I was in 2 minds about taking it as there’s no grass at the ‘new’ house; looks like the decision has been made for me. A quick shower after the gardening, and it’s on with shorts and a T-shirt to keep me cool.

I finished off the fresh pineapple from the fridge – what a tasty, refreshing snack that was, and it got me thinking of how my taste buds have changed over the years. Some things haven’t changed, and I’ve always loved fresh pineapple. I ate it so much as a kid in Malaya/Singapore (army brat) that it used to make my lips bleed. I love coconut too, and often wish there was more ‘water’ in them. My father used to buy it by the bucket load in Malaya as many don’t like it. I tried a carton of it not so long ago from the supermarket – Yuck! Can’t beat the real thing. I used to like corned beef, can’t stand it anymore, and only eat baked beans when feeling too lazy to cook much. I rarely eat pork chops, they used to be a favourite meal, and very rarely eat curry; my (then) husband and I used to eat out once a month as a treat, and it was invariably at an Indian restaurant. Never much liked sweets and we didn’t have them growing up, though I do crave jelly sweets now and again. Used to adore chocolate covered marzipan when we lived in Germany, though didn’t enjoy some I had for Christmas. I confess a weakness for bread, and love that you can buy so many different types these days. As a kid, it was white Wonderloaf. Now? I rarely eat white bread unless it’s sourdough. I’d rather eat Rye, seeded, granary, corn, fruit bread, sourdough, olive, sundried tomato, Ciabatta, pumpernickel is a tad dry – the list goes on. Why limit yourself to white bread…

This weekend I’ve packed a few more boxes, sealed and labels others, and dusted and vacuumed the upper deck of the Ship. Both days I’ve had a little siesta swinging gently in my hammock with the Ship’s Dog sleeping nearby. I want to take down, wash, and pack 2 sets of curtains soon but have to steel myself not to do it too soon. On the one hand the weather is ideal, however the curtains are keeping the Ship from getting too hot. Decisions… I have quite a lot for the recycling next week, and a bag of clothes for the charity shop; nice items, but I haven’t worn them since I left work, so I obviously don’t need them. Moving to a new house does focus the mind to dispose of ‘stuff’ that hasn’t been used in a while. Less than 5 weeks to go :)