Blooming

One of Helen's much anticipated dahlias opened last weekend, and has continued to bloom all week. Still in Belfast, H texted me to check that we were watering her pots and that she wasn't missing out on any new blooms.

Continued my spate of running on alternate days, running down to Woolwich and back along the riverside, getting home in time to let the decorators in to continue their work on our house. Worked indoors all day, but the warm weather finally tempted me out - Orla and I went for a drink and something to eat, and sat outside the Royal Standard in the sun.

Sitting outside was a mixed blessing. While it was warm, and I could get a bit of shade under a parasol, the passing traffic was a constant rumble in the background, and it got very busy. We later learned that someone was threatening to jump off a bridge over the A102, so the police stopped traffic both on the bridge and the motorway underneath (the Blackwall Tunnel was also closed). This resulted in near-gridlock conditions in all nearby roads, until the person was persuaded to step down. The incident lasted about three hours, apparently.