The sun continues to pummel the garden and its inhabitants. The grass is brown and tinder dry. Another heatwave is coming, the fifth of this summer in London.

"Summer 2026 on course to be UK’s hottest on record, says Met Office – latest news"

The solar panel is covered with a thin layer of dust, perhaps carried over from the Sahara?

"Thames Water has paid its finance chief a £1m signing fee despite teetering on the brink of a government-handled administration."

More probably it's just residue from work in a neighbour's garden/building site nearby, where builders are endlessly cutting paving slabs into sections and laying them over a bed of hardcore.

"The payment would come on top of total pay for Buck of £591,000 in the financial year to 31 March. That included a £491,000 base salary, as well as a £25,000 discretionary payment to “support his appointment and facilitate his timely onboarding, recognising costs incurred in connection with his recruitment”. However, the extra £1m payment was not detailed in Thames Water’s annual report, released last month."

Slowly choking off the green space that was home to newborn fox cubs only a few weeks ago.

"Buck’s base salary was also increased to £630,000 in April. The total pay of the chief executive, Chris Weston, for the year to 31 March rose to £1.2m."

The rainwater supplies in the water butts are running very low. We use them for watering and maintaining the levels of the pond. Tap water has high levels of chlorine, nitrogen, and phosphate.

"Buck’s base salary was also increased to £630,000 in April. The total pay of the chief executive, Chris Weston, for the year to 31 March rose to £1.2m."

We catch water in a bucket when we shower, and use it to water the garden.

"Thames last month disclosed it had paid £4.1m in bonuses for senior managers."

We catch water in a bucket when we shower, and use it to water the garden.

"Water firms in England and Wales ‘leak five times what hosepipe ban would save’. Greenpeace UK says 2.87bn litres lost daily, a fifth of all water pumped through network"

There is a hosepipe ban.