As September Draws to a Close

Another very busy month has almost escaped us. More volunteers, more work done and I'm still riding the horses too. So pretty happy all round. Well, apart from waiting the last 3 weeks for a new internet service via Vivacom........Fingers crossed tomorrow is actually the day they WILL turn up, unlike the last 3 appointments they've broken. If all goes well, we will be joining the 21st century and have broadband in less than 24 hours time.

For most in the UK, broadband is the norm these days I'd expect. But we have waited over 5 years. So when I heard from a lovely friend that someone she knew in the village had broadband installed, we both went into town to enquire. "Yes" said the sales assistant, who speaks very good English, and the following week my friend did indeed have broadband installed. Alas they didn't realise how many people here would want the same so after the initial rush apparently the system couldn't cope with demand and has had to be modified by the engineers.

In other news, my garden has been wonderful this year. My plan for using less water, more mulch seems to have worked well and the straw bale plants have flourished. We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes and many other things and I'm still picking vegetables daily. Really makes a difference to our food bills, especially when, at times, we've had 8 or 9 people here to eat daily. There are more straw bales in place for next year and I'm hopeful we can continue to make improvements.

The ponies are looking well and continue to improve in their ridden work. I've been hacking out a lot with a friend and it makes such a difference to have someone to chat to while riding. I feel fitter too, which is a good thing as I do tend to be on the lazy side. But with the weather finally cooling off it's so much easier to go riding. It's already getting dark earlier and every day we notice more leaves falling from the trees and the temperatures drop slightly. I've already emptied the pool as it hadn't been used for 2 weeks, it just needs put away somewhere rodent-proof for the winter.

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