Chugging along

We got our water bill yesterday - in the last quarter we used DOUBLE the amount of water that we did for the same quarter last year - so I think our hot water cylinder has been leaking for quite some time. It was certainly rusted through at the bottom, so we are very glad to see it go, and the new heat pump thingy installed outside. Unfortunately they had to reduce the water temperature to the legal maximum (outrageous!) so now the shower pressure is much lower, and it wasn't great to begin with, especially upstairs. Luckily I grew up in a house with the worst water pressure in any house I have ever lived in, ever, so I'm not too bothered (Dad you perhaps should not boast about your 1969 cistern, you should perhaps get rid of it....).

I have still been doing the good watercolour classes and learning how to actually do things properly. I'm not sure the results are much better but as an Australian teacher she certainly knows her way around a gum tree. The top one is the class task and the bottom one is the homework, loosely based on the local golf course. Too many mid-level trees, needs more contrast. 

The weekend was rainy and quiet. Both children have (separately) headed off with friends for mini beach holidays, at camp grounds or someone else's house. Number two is enjoying his retail job although five hours straight leaves him exhausted :) Parliament is raggedly bickering its way through the final sitting week. We haven't picked out an oven yet but air fryers are amazing!!!! So far everything we have tried has worked out amazingly. I am a convert.