Troubled bridge over quiet water

It's 10.11pm on Monday 20th July 2015. The temperature in the bedroom is 21.2 C. Outside the rain is softly falling and a faint breeze stirs the trees.

Today the end of our term. I went in to school for half a day, as I do on Mondays, and helped with some cleaning and sorting. A huge skip had been placed outside our nursery garden, and I retrieved a thing that I intend to upcycle into a fire screen. I've been looking for one for some time! This meant I couldn't take the usual bus to my next job, and walk along the canal towpath, so I took an earlier one and walked on to the Hope Mills industrial estate via the road.

That is when I noticed the bridge. I thought at first that a lorry had driven into it, but on speaking to a woman who lives in one of the prefabs on the park, I found out that it had been hit by a falling tree struck by lightning. That was back in May. One of the power cables came down too, and the residents of the park were without power for a day. Who says that nothing happens in Thrupp? Only this time last year there was a horrendous (chemical) fire at a factory on one of the small other industrial estates.

(I should explain that these industrial estates are based on the sites of former clotprocessing mills, and a re usually quirky and embedded in the surrounding countryside. They are a feature of Stroud's five valley and a testament to its industrial past).

New students for aromatherapy today were keen, polite and motivated. Makes a lovely change! Later, CleanSteve picked me up. and I cooked the tea while getting ready for climbing.

Hot doesn't begin to described the temperature in the Warehouse climbing centre in Gloucester tonight. I broke my personal sweating record, but fortunately no bones. I must keep on working on my fear of overhangs. Lea Anne and I have been pretty consistent about climbing over the past three months, and I hope to keep it up over the holidays without too much of a break. I'll miss it if I do, and lose strength. Never mind not getting any exercise!

So, I am officially on holiday now! Unfortunately I all-but gave up drinking a few months ago, so I celebrated with a g-f biscuit or two.

I'm currently on the 5:2 biscuit diet. You know, the one where for breakfast, you have five plain biscuits and two chocolate ones. For lunch you have five all-butter shortbreads and two oatcakes. For supper, it's five gluten-free wagon wheels and two Rich Tea. After five days, you never want to eat another sweet biscuit again, so you decide to live on two small crackers and a boiled egg every day.

The weight loss is phenomenal, the boredom immense.