:: berry nasty accident

Memo to self: a blackberry patch is not a great place to fall over. I was out collecting berries for my breakfast & had pushed into a thicket to get at some particularly juicy fruit. Then I had to get back out. Backwards seemed the most sensible way. But then my sandals snagged on the brambles, and I lost my balance. And of course there's nothing safe to grab in a blackberry patch to break your fall. On the way down I realised Bertie was standing right behind me, and twisted to avoid crushing him, so I fell heavily and awkwardly.

OW!

It was really hard getting back up -- nothing to grab hold of again -- and I was actually bleeding in a couple of places from the thorns. But I didn't drop the berries I'd picked. I had them for breakfast this morning and let me tell you, it was worth the pain.

Last night I went to another Fringe show, Waterwall, by an Italian dance company. It was a bit more gymnastics than dance, but enjoyable all the same. It was set outdoors, in the Old College quad, near where I used to live.

I took some pictures -- not great but I didn't have a tripod.


The dancers hooked themselves on to ropes and swung out through the water -- tricky to catch them.


This bit they were pretend-surfing.


I came closer to the front to take this one.

Afterwards we walked down my old close, and man, I'm glad I don't live there any more. The pub across the close from my old flat is even noisier than I remember, ditto the bar at the top of the close, ditto the one across the Cowgate. The racket was incredible. Three cheers for the suburbs.

And another thing: the Tattoo up at the Castle used to only have fireworks on the late show on Saturday nights; now they have them every night at every show. I saw a couple carrying a traumatised little dog home after the early evening volley of fireworks -- poor animals, they have enough to cope with with Guy Fawkes and New Year. I do wonder too if the amount of fireworks has anything to do with a recent spate of large chunks of masonry falling off Edinburgh buildings. The percussion is quite strong, even half a mile away.

Garden news: Beans! I looked at my runner bean the other day and it had a smattering of tiny mini-beans growing where the flowers had fallen off. Yesterday I looked again and there was an actual bean-sized bean! I picked it and ate it immediately. Mmm. Probably better steamed, but still quite nice.


These pictures are of the bean flowers, I took them last week. You can just about make out the tiny beanlets.


I'm having to water the garden, we've been without rain for so long. I talked to Andrew today and he said things are getting quite desperate on the farm. They have to bucket water from the cottage (which is on mains water) to fill the cattle troughs (spring-fed). The house is on spring water too, so they're being very frugal with it -- Andrew uses his shower water to flush the toilet. I'm kind of hoping it rains before I get up there at the end of the month. Yes, I'm going to the farm! Bertie and I will be there from 31 August to 5 September, when they have a whole family coming to visit. Then we're heading off into the Highlands for a few days of hillwalking etc. Andrew might join us if he gets a chance, but they're in the middle of calving, so maybe not.

What else? Not a lot. Work. Dog-walking.

Oh, I've found a wonderful new cleaning product -- it's fantastic. I use a lot of Ecover products, but this is the best yet. So far I've cleaned all the floors and the bathroom and toilet with it. I makes the house smell of oranges -- real oranges, not pretendy ones.