It did look like something from the 1930s Texas Dust Bowl.

Out cycling I stopped off at the canal to see the latest state of the water level.

Despite the level being to a depth of inches rather than feet the water has proved to be an oasis for vegetation making this look a green paradise against the brown surroundings.

Setting off again I found that the cleat on my right cycling shoe would not engage and clip into the pedal with the pedal which means the shoe is just resting on the pedal rather than being secured. Now theses cleats are about 18 months old and I don't walk on them so I wondered what was wrong until I got home and looked at the underside of the shoe and all became clear!

A new cleat shows just how worn the old one was. No wonder it did not engage in the pedal!

I looked at the other one too and that was nearly as worn. I replaced both as the WMD Stores had spares in stock!

Whilst I was out I did notice something unusual for July - fields being ploughed!

It did look like something from the 1930s Texas Dust Bowl. 

However, there were areas where the dust had settled and the ploughed field was visible and for July that is an odd site although one that may become more common in future years..

In this heat it will be dry within 24 hours which gives me time to cool off with a diluted cool drink!

There are always advantages and disadvantages with the hot weather depending on what you are doing. One of the disadvantages for me of the heat is that the Man Cave is more like a sauna on steroids! One of the advantages though is that the heat does assist greatly with the drying process of glues such as PVA. Using this to my advantage whilst excepting the sauna effects of the Man Cave I have been doing some ballasting on My Last Great Project layout. About two thirds of the layout is done but there is still much of the station board to do so I have been getting on with it!

Given the heat I have only been doing a short length at a time but after an hour of brushing ballast into place that is enough!

The goods yard has mostly already been ballasted with a 'dirty' ballast  but the main lines are a cleaner ballast but there was a need to graduate between the two where they met. As usual it was soaked with a diluted PVA and in this heat it will be dry within 24 hours which gives me time to cool off with a diluted cool drink!