Pool Watch No. 5

Early-ish today I got out in my heavy duty boots and dug and shoveled like fury, until we had a credible imitation of a swimming pool.

DIGRESSION WARNING!

[I've got the radio on in the background and it seems the winner of the Tour de France has been pulled up for a doping offence. He's been found to have levels of testosterone in a sample provided some time during the race. I bet that news comes as something of a relief actually. I'm always amused by the outrage over doping in cycling. It is one of those sports, along with athletics, wherein I believe the authorities should simply throw up their hands and hand the sport over to market forces. The reason dope cheats cheat is to win. The reason these dope cheats cheat to win - and let us not forget they are doped to the eyeballs, is to satisfy their craving for the adulation that comes with being the fastest or strongest man/woman in the world. Let's see how much adulation and sponsorship money swills around a sport that's openly in the pocket of the bio-chemicals industry. Hrumph!]

Back to the digging. I have the blisters to prove I've been doing something strenuous with my hands, something I haven't done recently either. Sadly it really is digging a hole in my back garden. When the blisters developed I packed it in (pathetic, I know) and gathered up the offspring. Together with her and camera we set off towards the nearest nature reserve. En route we discovered a fun fair so now I have to hand over loads of dosh to a bunch of shysters who've invaded our town with their dangerous rides, crap food and loud music. I really have a problem with fun fairs.

Anyway we got to the open lands and went in search of bugs - butterflies, daytime moths, crickets and other flying 'things'. Unfortunately I've bred infantry rather than commando offspring. We did find a lady bird, but we could have done that in the back yard. We saw quite a few hoverflies, too. Lots of white fluttering things were about and my impression was of more than one variety. Unfortunately between their natural tendency to flitter about and the offspring's rampaging I got photos of only one. That photo was taken right at the end, and ironically when we'd stopped by the fair to get a leaflet for the opening times.

We came home for lunch and a little later the Fat Bastard got back from work. When he realised how much I'd accomplished in a morning he set to work like a dervish and - guess what. Can't? We have a pool shaped hole in our back ground. As we have the lining materials we're ready to rock and roll. By tomorrow or at latest the day afterwards we will have a swimming pool. The Met Office is still promising much cooler weather by Sunday so we're still on schedule.