And it was All going so well

 We have been continuing to have lovely sunny days and I have been able to carry on with removing the stump of the Plum tree.Yesterday I was using the chainsaw but really the chain is making hard work of it.  I need to either get it sharpened or buy a new one.

But, as we are locked down (and I am impatient) today I resorted to hammer and chisel.  Fortunately I was able to split the stump along the grain and success was achieved this morning.

So, the tree is now a memory and we have a 'muddy' patch.

I have sown it with grass seed although that is a bit optimistic as it's far too late in the season!

But then ... We happily went off this afternoon to the local recycling centre to get a load of their free compost which we are using as a mulch.  On our return journey, with the car filled with 13 old fertiliser sacks full of compost, we came round the corner on the narrow road just nearly home when we had to emergency stop for our neighbour in his large van coming towards us. No accident ... but Sue was showered with compost, as well as her seat, the carpets etc.  What made it worse was the fact that she had only cleaned out the car about 3 days ago!

So we stopped the car outside of the front door to hoover it out and ... where is the doorkey?  We searched in the car, in my bag, in fact everywhere we could think of!  We began thinking of which window should we break!  I (unusually) had been the one to lock up and I was trying to remember what I had done and where I may have put the key.  I gradually remembered that, as Sue had cleaned the car, when I unlocked it, with gloves and the key in hand, I had put them on the roof of the car before I could lay down the seats and lay out the dustsheets ready for the compost.  Hence I must have left the house key on the roof of the car.

So, you can imagine we retraced out journey to the Recycling Centre quite slowly, Sue gazing intently in the gutter!  Nothing.  On arrival at the Centre Sue started looking, even stopping a man who was about to shovel compost into his trailer, just in case he shoveled up our key. At that point I got out of the car ... maybe the key had slid down to where the windscreen wipers 'park'.  Low and behold, on the roof, right in front of my eyes, was the key! (Click on the picture if you need it bigger)

We had driven about 3 miles to the Recycling Centre, returned home (including an emergency stop) and then driven to the Centre a second time, with the key of the roof the whole time! The man loading his trailer told us how lucky we were ... he said we should buy a Lottery Ticket!!!!

They say things come in 3's and actually, this was the third.  After showering Sue with compost, she had discovered that the wind had blown over the lid to her cold frame and torn the plastic covering.

We will be taking steps to 'hide' a spare key somewhere safe, just in case.  Hope us old codgers don't forget where we've hidden it!