Rain, rain, rain

It has been coming down more or less vertically since ten this morning. It looks like the Republic of Ireland out there. It looks like we're sitting in a cloud. It has been like this all day pretty much. The valley is green when you can see past that curtain of rain: past that veil of mist.

An hour or so ago I got so fed up with looking at it through the stable door that I closed it. And then the light failed completely. It is dark but still I can hear the incessant, unremitting, fall. Rainwater has puddled everywhere, so much has fallen. Puddles and small lakes that show every sign of expanding as the rain continues. The damp is bringing the temperature down too.

G has been stripping type 1 lavender all day and has finally finished the entire type 1 harvest so there is only the type 2 and the withered, that has just been recovered from behind the girls' sofa where it has languished for a couple of months, to do now. The type 2 is still in the wardrobe upstairs. And only 8 more plants to prune too! What a worker she is.

The rainy days are when catch up gets done in the house: when we do things that you wouldn't fancy on days that are pleasant enough to go outside. On days like this we bring the girls indoors earlier than usual and we all kind of huddle together against the weather. We drink more coffee an tea than is the norm and, of course, we all eat more than usual. There is no danger of any of us becoming overweight and so we can indulge ourselves without fear or guilt.

Me? Us? The boys? Well we've been surfing around a whole lot more and chatting online as we sit in a haze of lavender scent. We also run the errands that require going out in the foul weather - dumping rubbish, getting provisions in, cleaning the run, stove works, log chopping - that sort of stuff. Fortunately we have the Drizabone - probably the finest foul weather garment ever designed and crafted and so it bothers us not one jot.

Here, for your delectation are a couple of links that the boys took a fancy to:

Did the US and Britain deliberately arrange the partition Cyprus?

The ultimate foul weather coats here

New and brighter outlook for Cuba

Great chat show moments