Lunch outside

A warm day.  The first sunblock day this year.  Ate beetroot soup and watercress outside in the sun.  Was going to read one of the instructional gardening books to see what could still be planted at this stage of the game but got side tracked by Derek Jarman and his sea bleached paradise.  Not too late for pumpkins - could have them ready for Hallowe'en apparently.

Spoke to the farmer who agreed to give us notice if they are spraying the field.  We can whisk the children away and take in the washing.  He was very accommodating so I am feeling less like Meryl Streep in Silkwood, at risk of contamination by invisible carcinogens.  Compared to where we were before, with the children's school playground just off the North Circular, I suspect breathing is safer now.  Still wouldn't want a face of herbicide but at least we can avoid it.  I think.

When we arrived last year the field was waving tides of green wheat.  This year it's oil seed rape which Dad hated.  But I am being hypnotised by the first sparks of yellow stoking the green to that blinding summer brightness.  Have been advised to drink cider vinegar or eat local honey to ward off hay fever but am tempting fate and not taking anything.  Maybe I don't have hayfever anymore? But rape usually gets right up my nose so will get some antihistamines in case.  I did buy some spiced apple vinegar but it smells like the nursing home where I was a tea girl.  Not a scent I'd choose to bottle.  

C and M coming to stay tomorrow.  Going to market for provisions and to pick them up from the station.  And maybe a swift half by the sea before showing them our new home.