H and Miss L were up early as Miss L had to be in town to take charge of the Brownies at the town's Remembrance parade. In the meantime I popped round the Steve's to collect my scaffold boards and take them over to the lottie. I parked them at the lottie in a safe place. The planks are good value. I cannot believe how long they are. I just have to get some pegs then we are in business to make some new edgings over the winter. Whilst I was loading the car outside Steve's, a thin little voice caught my attention. "Young man...young man". One of Steve's elderly neighbours could not get the top of her new jar of coffee. I obliged with the cap removal. Whatever I did moving the boards my lower back is killing.
I went home, had a shower, a shave and a change of clothes then together with H went to Ashby for the parade. Just as we got into town the procession, headed by the drums and bugles of the Donisthorpe Scout Band, marched past. The youth military cohorts marched past in fair order followed by the various shuffling youth organisations such as the Scouts. Guides, Rangers and Brownies, fund raisers such as the Roundtable and the church groups. The Scout Band is peopled by ex-Scouts. I think the youngest member is at least thirty. The youngest of the drum corp must be at least fifty. They do make a stirring sound as the drum corp thunders and volley complimented by cascading bugle calls. There was a very good turn out. As usual the organising group got the timing all wrong. The minister from St Helen's had to fill for five minutes. He said some poignant things. Hymms sung, religious words said, silence observed, wreaths laid, and the national anthem sung with gusto, even the tricky second verse, all under a blue sky and the biting chill of a November day. Once the officer of the day bellowed his dismissal of the parade the assembled couple of hundred people dissolved into small groups. Miss L popped up having handed over her charges to their parents. We passed the time of day with friends then went home for a hot cuppa. Miss L was frozen through despite layers of clothing. I was as warm as toast. As I was told when I was a lad, there is no such thing as bad weather....just the wrong clothing.
Whilst having lunch I was channel hopping on the TV only to spot the MotoGP was about to start. Today was the last round. Valentino Rossi had already won the title so the racing was all about the minor places. Having experienced the end of a couple of racing seasons I could empathise with the winners and losers and the general relief that it is over for another year. After the GP which Danni Pedrosa won, Rossi second and Lorenzo third, I went to the lottie. Degsy was a bit poorly but with time short I parked him up with a promise to look at him next weekend. I took the few bits I needed in the Vauxhall. I harvested the French Beans, dismantled the frame and cleared away the debris. It took a whole hour since the bean vines had tangled themselves in the overhead netting.. The bean pods filled my big green tray. That is going to be a lot of podding! I found a big Butterhut squash that I missed from the harvest yesterday. The cold weather has killed off the vines of the squashes revealing the hidden fruits of Pumpkin [although being big and orange they are hard to miss], Butternut squash and Gherkin. I pulled up the empty stalks of the Sweet Corn and left them on the ground to continue drying. The vines of the French beans went into the compost heap. I tidied up and went home even though the sun was still above the horizon. I did a bit of fettling in the garden and then was distracted by tea. I spent sometime pondering what is to be done over the winter. And that was more or less it for the weekend. Back to work to work in the morning. I still have five day holidays to use up before the end of December so if the weather holds I might have a chance to catch up on the digging.
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