• Feeling: Fidgety
• Listening to: Nothing today
• Watching: The Speed Cubers (Netflix)

Didn’t wake too early today. It was nice to wake up at 9am on a Monday morning and not to feel I was late for work! D had been out for a run already and made me tea.

It was Rakshabandhan today which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters, and Ds eldest brother rang her this morning and D and B (who were up first) spoke to all the family (V is the cousin on Ds side of the family who is closest in age to B and they get on well).

After I’d had a luxurious breakfast (which meant having some left over double cream on my porridge) F also appeared (having spent an hour or more listening to a Harry Potter audio book before getting up) and had her breakfast as well.

Eventually I decided it was time to put gravel down around the deck, and B helped me while D did some gardening and F did some spray painting in the garden. We worked pretty quickly and by lunchtime we had all the gravel done, the planters in position and partially planted up and other plant pots back in place around the deck – it looks fantastic (in my opinion at least). The big planters are going to have herbs in (we already have some rosemary and sage in one) and the smaller planter has a Caryopteris x clandonensis (or Bluebeard) which Mum bought us in memory of Dad.

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I’m still not really feeling relaxed and feel fidgety when I’m not doing something productive at the moment, but tomorrow we’re going to a National Trust property (Packwood House) first thing (booked tickets for 9-9:30) and hopefully a walk in the surrounds will help me get into the holiday spirit a bit more (although it means an earlier start than today!)

I’m also hoping to get fixing for our sail shade/awning – and once that’s up it really will be the end of the deck project (and I can make a start on the next project which is a new gravel path at the front)

Stay safe, stay strong.