There is a strange noise outside.

I am sitting with the door to the garden open, and every now and then there is the sound of a car splashing through puddles out on the road.  That’s a sound I haven’t heard since around April. 

This is the first real rain we have had this summer.  Over the last few weeks there has been the occasional shower, and yesterday it rained a bit.  Today however it has been pissing down all day.  I think it confused Penny, as she became so used to lying out on the lawn that she tried the same trick today.  She must have eventually realised that something was different as she is now lying on the couch, dripping wet and looking sorry for herself.

The drought has landed me with a small problem.  It’s not a sleepless nights type of problem; more a little conundrum that will have to be solved at some stage.  The problem is whether to take out the tractor and mow the lawns.

You see, the drought has killed most of the grass on the main [south] lawn.  There is a large area that is now occupied mainly by deep rooted weeds such as dandelions and feck all else.  But there is a section of it that didn’t suffer so badly and the grass there not only survived but is beginning to grow a bit straggly.  To make matters worse the front [north] lawn is growing as if there was never a shortage of water, and is now beyond ankle deep and is nearer knee depth.  It needs a cut.

So do I take out the tractor just for the front lawn?  Or do I do the front and then tackle the back which would mainly consist of driving around large areas of soil just cutting the heads off dandelions? 

Yes – these are the problems that occupy the mind of a retiree.  Gone are the days of worrying about punctuality, commuting, finishing reports and whether I can scrounge a day off or not.  I now have greater things to occupy my mind.

Anyway, I can at least relax and postpone my little conundrum for another day.

It’s raining.