British Summer

We've had some very hot summers in recent years, very non-classical British summers, nothing to whinge about. Oh, my mistake, of course there was the heat, the insects, the drought. A truly British pastime, we love to complain about the weather. I wonder why?

Anyway this June has been a tad on the damp side, much more your classical British summer, it's rained a fair old bit, so much so there have been flash floods and damaged dams. All serious stuff. On a personal level I like it (not the floods, just the rain), the dog walks are quieter and I don't need to water the garden by hand. Mind you on tuesday I woke up to find the rose petals scattered across the grass, so a little less wind would be nice thanks.

On sunday the itchy feet got the best of me so I took the three lurchers on a new walk on the north bank of the Thames.

This stretch of the Berkshire riverbank is fascinating, lots of rather nice houses:

Oooh - this one is for sale - can we afford it?


Or is this more our style?


disused boat houses:

These are fascinating




and old gun emplacements left over from the second world war. It's amazing to think that there were concerns that invaders would make it this far up the Thames, and the trees now grown up between the boxes and the river show just how long ago it was..


The dogs liked it too but I'm guessing the gun emplacements were of little interest to them.

It's very pretty round here, I'll miss it when we move.

Lastly - I want THIS "deck"