Writing and Raining

The day began wet and over-cast. I could hear the rain rattling on the windows in the night. There is a fresh water-feature just outside the patio doors from the kitchen when I let the dogs out earlier ( meaning a puddle, which I didn't want either dog to get in and create paw-print all over the kitchen floor.)  and quite a torrent rushing down the road outside the house at the front, as seen from the window when I was washing up at the sink.

I've been doing quite a bit of writing this morning, as well as sorting out some of my earlier writing. I have been putting most of it into a ring-binder, but I had to buy a second one because the first was chocker-block full. I had to number the pages and use different coloured pens to make sure they don't get muddled up. I have got stuff in my pad of paper which I had forgotten I'd written and I'm quite pleased how it reads and will have to use for future stories.

I put a cheque in our bank account last week. I took it into the NatWest branch in the centre of Milton Keynes. How come it used to take no more than three working days for a cheque to clear? I have been to an A.T.M. to check to see whether the cash had cleared, and it still hasn't. I can't see why it takes longer for a cheque to clear, rather than shorter. Surely, with modern technology, computers and so on, it would take less time. What's the excuse? We rarely get cheques, and most things are paid through B.A.C.S., so any payment goes directly into our bank account, so it seems quite strange for it to take such a long time. Admittedly, there was a weekend in the middle, but that's still no reason for it to take so long to clear.