Not counting the hours or anything, but it’s only six days until we set off for England for our two-and-a-half week summer holiday! Can’t wait for that first real pint of real ale.

In anticipation of the USA and England matches last weekend, Jamie and I went and kicked a ball around in Victory Park for as long as we had the stamina. (About forty minutes.)

It’s now nearly a week later, and my shinsplints have just about recovered. We must do that more often; it definitely feels beneficial, and you know you’re doing some good if you get out breath so quickly! I’ve had some lower back pain in the past few months, which was strangely relieved by this (and also, curiously, by digging in the garden).

So on Saturday morning we established ourselves at Lucky Baldwins pub in Old Town, well in advance of the USA match (kickoff 11:30 local time) and ordered breakfast and a beer. The match was best forgotten though, as was the dismal England match the next day. Better luck next time chaps…

Our crop of beans. This was all of them – about three servings, at a stretch! They were very tasty… but I suspect we need to fertilise them better to get a more worthwhile crop. It doesn’t work out too economically with such a pitiful volume: the plants were probably more than a pack of beans would have been!

Early morning sunlight streams into our spare bedroom.

Luckily these traffic jams don’t happen too often, but they really don’t make my commute any more pleasant. Bumper-to-bumper on the 118 freeway, still 30 miles from home… (at least I can have the roof down though).

…Where did I leave the cat-opener, anyway? More comedy signs at Rose Tree Cottage.