Birthday, Bangladesh, stripy lawns and snoozing cats
Happy Birthday to teawith! I hope you've had a lovely day, with some beautiful young things to look at.
Meanwhile, the Test wound up with painful rapidity - ten wickets in each of the last two sessions, even if the final session was extended after a delayed start - after Bangladesh had been doing rather well on Saturday afternoon. But the Old Trafford crowd really took to Tamim Iqbal in his run-a-ball century. And Jamie Siddons said, I think without his tongue in his cheek, that they were fun to coach because there was so much to work on.
Oh, and Zimbabwe won again, this time against Sri Lanka in the final group game. So they headed the table easily, and will meet Sri Lanka again in the final, having knocked out India.
The one benefit of Bangladesh's back-to-back collapses was that I got home in time to mow the lawns on Sunday evening. I was rather surprised, because it's ages since I managed to get through it all in one go - usually I have to stop and recharge the mower's batteries overnight. But when I thought about it, it wasn't that surprising; I've been fairly good about doing it once a fortnight since the election, and this time it was more like 11 or 12 days, because I knew the forecast for the remaining evenings before Green Bin Day wasn't good. And I had to get it done this week because, for complicated reasons, I won't be able to do it next fortnight, so it may be getting rather tricky again next time I manage it. (I've worked out over the past couple of years that doing it once every four weeks is no economy, because it takes twice as long when it's had that long to grow.) Anyway, it was perfect timing, because it started raining just as I finished, and has been very wet today.
I am absurdly proud of my grass stripes. I'm not sure why, because on the whole I tend towards overgrown shrubberies rather than tidy flowerbeds, but somehow creating visible grass stripes gives me a huge sense of achievement. They're only really visible for a few days, of course, before they grow out.
They're slightly kinky stripes, because of the kink in the side lawn.
It was so sunny last week that even Rosie was sunbathing.
And then it got so hot that even Tabitha was keeping cool inside.
Tomorrow is a big day, because Tabitha is due to go to the vets to have her bad teeth out.
Meanwhile, the Test wound up with painful rapidity - ten wickets in each of the last two sessions, even if the final session was extended after a delayed start - after Bangladesh had been doing rather well on Saturday afternoon. But the Old Trafford crowd really took to Tamim Iqbal in his run-a-ball century. And Jamie Siddons said, I think without his tongue in his cheek, that they were fun to coach because there was so much to work on.
Oh, and Zimbabwe won again, this time against Sri Lanka in the final group game. So they headed the table easily, and will meet Sri Lanka again in the final, having knocked out India.
The one benefit of Bangladesh's back-to-back collapses was that I got home in time to mow the lawns on Sunday evening. I was rather surprised, because it's ages since I managed to get through it all in one go - usually I have to stop and recharge the mower's batteries overnight. But when I thought about it, it wasn't that surprising; I've been fairly good about doing it once a fortnight since the election, and this time it was more like 11 or 12 days, because I knew the forecast for the remaining evenings before Green Bin Day wasn't good. And I had to get it done this week because, for complicated reasons, I won't be able to do it next fortnight, so it may be getting rather tricky again next time I manage it. (I've worked out over the past couple of years that doing it once every four weeks is no economy, because it takes twice as long when it's had that long to grow.) Anyway, it was perfect timing, because it started raining just as I finished, and has been very wet today.
I am absurdly proud of my grass stripes. I'm not sure why, because on the whole I tend towards overgrown shrubberies rather than tidy flowerbeds, but somehow creating visible grass stripes gives me a huge sense of achievement. They're only really visible for a few days, of course, before they grow out.
They're slightly kinky stripes, because of the kink in the side lawn.
It was so sunny last week that even Rosie was sunbathing.
And then it got so hot that even Tabitha was keeping cool inside.
Tomorrow is a big day, because Tabitha is due to go to the vets to have her bad teeth out.