Prolific Petunias and Insidious Bugs

Our "Blood Sky" petunias (not their real name) are cranking along, more than three months after I bought them. I gotta say, I am very impressed by their durability and prolific blooms. All our petunias, in fact, have had an excellent summer, though I have to water them practically every day.

It's been ridiculously dry here. England is in the middle of a "nationally significant" water shortage, according to The Guardian, and water companies are mulling over further restrictions. We've had below-average rainfall for each of the last six months, and much of the middle of the country is in an official drought. So far we in London haven't had a garden hose watering ban (a "hosepipe ban," as it's known), but it may still happen.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions yesterday about my weird itchy arms. I did find that taking an antihistamine helps, and it was only last night that I belatedly realized I've been in this situation before. Remember the insidious flower bugs? This is the time of year that they show up in the garden and begin biting the heck out of me, and they are so tiny that it's entirely possible I just haven't noticed them. In fact I went out just now to look at our banana tree, where I've seen them in the past feasting on mites, and sure enough, there they are. Insidious indeed!

I was standing in the borders yesterday morning picking blackberries ("brambles" to you northern language purists) for my cereal, and I know I have been ravaged by insidious flower bugs while doing that in past years. So yeah, I'm belatedly thinking most of this itching is down to the bugs. I suspect UV sun exposure hasn't helped either.

That's probably the last batch of blackberries I'm going to get this year. The crop is pretty much done.

The boiled egg I set out for the foxes disappeared yesterday around midday, while Dave and I were at lunch at Chipotle on the high street. I was excited for some daytime footage of the foxes on our garden cam, but no! The camera, for some reason, picked up nothing of the egg being eaten. There are some clips from around that time showing a magpie hanging around near the egg, and I'm thinking the magpie is actually what ate it. That's fine. As long as it didn't go to waste.

We had our annual flat inspection yesterday by our property management company. An agent came in, looked the place over, tested the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, took some pictures, asked some perfunctory questions and that was that. I showed her a few areas that could suggest a problem -- bubbling wallpaper here, peeling paint there -- and pointed out that the front of the house probably needs a paint job. But I don't expect much to come of it. The landlords told us months ago they intended to redecorate the sitting room, but we've heard nothing about that since so I'm not even sure it's still happening. Anyway none of it's an issue for us. I'm happy enough with things as they are.

Writing this post, I have buried the lede (as we used to say in journalism) because today is a momentous day. Not only is it our last day of summer vacation -- we both go back to work tomorrow -- but this is the day Dave and I become British citizens! Woo hoo! Our citizenship ceremony is at 10 a.m. In fact we were really supposed to go back to work today, but we postponed our return to get this done. I've planned a fancy lunch afterwards and I am looking forward to being able to vote in future British elections, just in time to do my small part to oppose Nigel Farage. (Yes, Nigel, I am an IMMIGRANT!)