Chilling

"Wot a scorcher" again today. Managed a few hours in the morning getting the horse stables sorted for the straw but by early afternoon at 35°C and not a hint of a breeze, I retired to the pool, an alcohol free shandy and a cool sofa in the house with 20°C.

The horse stables have a metal, non insulated roof. Enormous advantage of this type of roof is being able to have a very large span without any under-construction. The stable is probably 20 metres long and about 7 metres wide without any posts. Downside it is very loud when it rains but worse, in autumn and spring when we have very cold nights with frost and then sunshine, condensation forms on the underside, freezes and then as it gets warm, there is a 15-minute period where it "rains" inside. This condensation water when it drops on to hay and straw naturally can lead to it rotting and bacteria forming which inevitably lead to the horses coughing and the vet ordering the latest Porsche catalogue.

In the evening we were invited to friend Christina's horse stables for a BBQ next to the horse fields and were able to witness her two blue roan Quarter Horses being allowed out for the first time in months as they had just returned from a long stretch of "Stallion Duty". Christina is a self called "Hobby" Breeder and has a very loving, friendly stables with beautiful mares and foals. Here the link to her website, the 2016 foals.

Was a lovely relaxed evening with great food, beer for me and various shades of Prosecco - the drinks cooled in the stream in buckets and crates. During the course of the evening, it became increasingly dangerous to clamber down the bank by candlelight to get a refill. The girls rhubarb prosecco looked OK, but I got very worried about the meths coloured violet (as in viola) variety.

Was probably one of the best evenings of the summer, and we were quite happily outdoors until close to midnight. Thank you, Christina, for a lovely evening.