Black Ice

 The temperature overnight had obviously warmed up in the light rain we had experienced. Then, before dawn, the rain died away, and the temperatures dropped. This was a very good recipe for black ice.

Ellie was dropped off at 6:35 but was still barely conscious. I sent her upstairs to get into bed with Nana, where she fell asleep. We left her until 7:30 before disturbing her. The normal morning process was followed, and Ellie and I left for school at 8:30. Ellie promptly slipped on some black ice and ended up on the pavement. From then on, she held on to my hand all the way to school. When we arrived, we saw several children who had fallen on the ice. I left Ellie as she marched into class, and I set off on my walk. I was very cautious at first, but it soon became clear that my usual route was fairly safe. 

By the time I arrived home, Diane had already left to go to Pilates in Angmering. I settled down with a bowl of porridge, a coffee, and the overnight news. With breakfast cleared away, I took some of the Christmas detritus out to the garage. The rest will have to wait until Di has finished wrapping it up and squirrelling it away in the correct boxes. I then cracked on and cleared the outstanding ironing (most of which was mine, anyway).

With chores out of the way, I returned to editing the 2025 blog entries for the journal. I managed to complete all of July by the time I stopped for lunch. Di arrived home just as I finished preparing lunch. We chatted over our snack, then I retired to the lounge with my Kindle. Di went out to the Orangery and finished squirrelling the Christmas decorations away in the storage crates. I went to collect Ellie from after-school football practice and took her home before returning to the lounge and my Kindle for 30 minutes.

Dinner is now finished, and the dishwasher is in control of the crockery.

Batteries

I had an early start. I was up and about, ready to greet Ellie when she was dropped off at 6:35. It had been a bitterly cold night. Marham, in Norfolk, saw temperatures of -12.5 °C; even here, near the south coast, the temperature dropped to -4 °C. Even at 8:30, when I walked Ellie to school, the temperature was still -4.

I didn't bother with an early walk. Japer was due at the vet, and I wanted to make sure Di didn't have to struggle in the ice. I drove them to the vet and carried Jasper in for his appointment. Then brought them back when it was all over.

I finally went out for my walk. As I walked by the lake, I could see how thick the ice had become. This was probably just as well because I saw 4 or 5 kids playing on the ice at the other side of the island. (I didn't overly worry as the water is only knee deep at present, so if the ice broke they would have got wet, but were not in danger).

I didn't manage to complete my usual circuits. The coffee I had consumed had decided that it hadn't percolated through, so I cut back home. When I got in, Di was taking down more of the Christmas decorations. Once I was comfortable, I stripped the old batteries out of all the lights. We now have a huge collection of defunct batteries to take for recycling. I'll put everything else back in the garage tomorrow.

I headed out for another walk. This time, I routed along the back route to the village and then looped back past the Jubilee Hall and back around the estate.

After lunch, we sat down for some Kindle time. Just after 3, Di went to collect Ellie and take her home to Zoe. I continued with my book.

There is nothing else scheduled for today.

Nose, meet Grindstone

It was the first day of the new term for Ellie. Fortunately, Zoe didn't start work until 9:00, so I didn't have to get up to greet Ellie. I had a gentle start with a good coffee and a wander through the overnight news. It had been a very cold night. The roads and paths were thick with frost, and the temperature was hovering around-2 °C. I donned an extra layer before setting out to join the walk to school. We arrived before the classroom doors had opened, and whilst the kids weren't boisterous, it was clear that they were almost as pleased to be back at school as their parents were to see them off.

I set off on my morning walk. I deviated from the usual route. Not by much, but enough to add another 500m to the walk. My audiobook, "See No Evil" by Sally Rigby, is shaping up nicely. 

The lake was completely frozen over as I walked past. I was out for about an hour before returning for breakfast. 

There was some admin to clear before I got cracking on anything else. With that dealt with, I set about the task of removing the Christmas lights from the front of the house and then taking down the ribbons that displayed all of the cards we had received.

After lunch, I returned to the editing of last year's blog for the journal. Over several episodes during the afternoon, I managed to finish through to the end of last May. One interruption was when I went to collect Ellie from school (it was much too cold and slippery for Di to venture out). Ellie wasn't with us for long. Zoe had managed to get away just after 15:00, so she collected Ellie within a few minutes of us getting back.

The rest of the afternoon has been quiet. Dinner is now finished, and we are winding down for the evening.

Crystal Clear

 It was gone seven before I emerged from under the duvet. It had been a cold night, and the temperature was still -4 °C according to the Alexa Hub. I took Di a tea and suggested she stay in bed and make the most of the last quiet morning we will have for a while. I returned to my coffee and the overnight news.

Once Di had come down and we had eaten breakfast, I headed for the study and returned to the process of editing last year's blog entries for the annual journal. Over the next couple of hours, I worked through from the start of April until the day we went away on the river cruise. That seemed like a good point to stop for a while.

I put on my walking shoes, my hat, and my jacket and set off for my walk. Over the next 75 minutes, I finished my audiobook and started another - the second in the same series. It was a gorgeous day for walking. The sky was crystal clear, and the only blemishes were distant contrails from planes heading off to exotic places. The temperature was still sub-zero, but I was dressed for it, and it was no hardship.

Di was busy in her sewing room when I returned. I took her a tea and made a spot of lunch before returning to the editing of the journal. I really enjoyed going through the write-ups for the river cruise last Spring. It was nice to relive what we did and what we saw; it had been such a lovely trip (and makes me look forward to this year's trip along the Moselle). When I had finished the next tranche of editing, I settled in the lounge with my Kindle and read a few more chapters of my latest book.

At four o'clock, I headed for the kitchen and started on dinner. Tonight we had lamb shanks with roasted potatoes, parsnips and carrots, with some green beans. It looks like we will be having another cold night tonight as the skies are so clear and there is no wind.

Pharmacist

 I was up just before seven. It had been a cold night, and there was a heavy frost on the cars. I was pleased we didn't have to go out first thing. I sat with my coffee and read the overnight news of the moron Trump attacking Venezuela (which just happens to have the largest oil reserves in the world). It is hard to believe that someone like him has his finger on the metaphorical button... when he doesn't seem to have the mental capacity to be embarrassed by his own lies. I feel so deeply sorry for the millions of good Americans being reduced to international pariahs by the leader that most of them didn't vote for.

I had my usual call with the cousins. It was Tim's first appearance after his cruise. over Christmas. He regaled us with stories of the trip, including being asked to witness a wedding and then signing in the place reserved for the Captain! He clearly had ideas above his station.

Later in the morning, I had a scheduled call with the pharmacist from the Surgery. She was phoning to "offer" me statins. My cholesterol is marginally above the range recommended by NICE, all of my other markers are well within range, and some research reveals that I am in the lowest third of cardiovascular risk for men of my age, and my QRISK score is low for someone of my age. After discussions, I agreed with her to hold fire on the statins, but retest in 3-6 months.

I headed off for my belated walk. My audiobook is moving to the conclusion, but there is obviously a twist still to be revealed, as there is over an hour to run, but the murderer has been revealed and captured. I look forward to hearing what happens tomorrow.

When I arrived home, Di was up in her sewing room working on some alterations. I grabbed some lunch and then retired to my study so that I could edit the March blog entries from last year. After that, I had an hour or so of Kindle time before starting on dinner.

Easing In

We are easing into the New Year. There is no need to overdo it. The year is a marathon, not a sprint! Zoe had a day off, so Ellie was at home all day. We could have had a nice long lie-in but for the fact that Di had an appointment with the physio at 08:00. Also, Jasper started yowling just before 07:00, so any ideas of an extra hour in bed were rapidly dispersed.  

Di was back by 08:30, and we had a quiet breakfast as we discussed the outcome of the appointment and wandered through the overnight news. Once breakfast was finished, I completed some admin and then went to the study to process another couple of weeks' blog entries for the 2025 journal.

Late morning, I headed out for my walk. The forecast (light) snow had not put in an appearance. In fact, the skies were crystal clear, and the sun was quite blinding. The conditions were perfect for my walk. I followed my usual route, with a Sally Rigby audiobook playing through the AirPods. There are only a couple more hours or so to go in this book, but it is book one of a new series, and I will certainly keep an eye out for the follow-ons.

Back home, Di was on the phone with Kim. She, too, had spoken with the physio today, so they were comparing their respective experiences. Kim also explained that her next placement from the university is in Totton (Southampton).  This would be almost impossible given the 14-hour shifts and the commute of over an hour each way. She will be speaking with her tutor to see if they can find something more appropriate.

After lunch, I returned to the study and finished editing and processing all of the blog entries for February last year. I then went back through the last couple of months' photos and pumped them through my "photofiler" to ensure that the masters were properly filed and backed up here on-site. While I pottered upstairs, Di was chatting with Denise, catching up on all of her news and her plans. It seems that 2026 will be a big year for her.

We managed a couple of hours of Kindle time before dinner, and have a quiet evening planned.

New Release

So, a New Year has been released into the wild. Again, I will try to track its progress as the days click by. We didn't stay up to greet the new release; we decided that the forces of time could manage that without our supervision or intervention. We went to bed and slept through the excitement. 

I was up early to greet Ellie as she was dropped off at 6:40. She was surprisingly chirpy, given that she had stayed awake to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks. After a cuddle, she charged upstairs to jump into bed with Nana.

I was more interested in breakfast and coffee than my early morning walk. That would have to wait until later in the morning. Once breakfast was cleared away, I set about closing off last year's accounts and launching the accounts for 2026. I then reviewed the material I printed out regarding statins and whether I should consider taking them. I have a discussion scheduled with the pharmacist on Saturday, and I want to ensure I am able to ask the right questions.

By the time I headed out for my walk, the temperature had risen to about 3 °C, positively balmy! I was out for about 75 minutes and assumed that most locals were in bed, hungover. The streets were deserted. When I arrived home, Ellie had her friend Neve playing with her. 

After we had a light lunch, I went to the study and downloaded the whole of the 2025 blog and started editing it, ready to create the new hardback journal for the year. I'm glad I kept such clear notes in previous years. It was just a matter of following the instructions and then working through the daily entries. I managed to complete all of the entries from January and will return to the task tomorrow or at the weekend.

Zoe collected the girls at 15:30, so we managed to get some Kindle time before I started on dinner. As I was preparing dinner, I received a WhatsApp from cousin Paul. He was sharing the news that his daughter Laura and her partner, Marcus, got engaged over the Christmas period. It's lovely to have such joyous family news. Paul also went on to say they had some time in their new place near Montreal, and commented that they had lots of snow and lots of fun. It sounds like a perfect Christmas.

I wish you all peace, happiness, and good health in 2026.

Farewell 2025

It has been a good year for us, for which we are forever thankful.  Today, as 2025 struggles to draw its last breaths, I was up at 6:15. It gave me a quiet 90 minutes before Di came down. Ellie wasn't due to arrive until 11-ish. Having prepared a tea for Di, I grabbed a shower and then headed out on my morning walk. I was out for just over an hour and completed the challenge I had set myself - to walk 100 miles over the month. In fact, when I checked, I had completed 1482 miles during the year and listened to 28 audiobooks. My total book count for the year (including the audiobooks) was 148.

Once I was back home, I grabbed breakfast and got on with some domestic chores. The temperature outside had soared to a balmy 1 °C, having started the day at 0 °C. Ellie was dropped off and, though it was 11:30, asked if she could have breakfast.  We had her brunch!

The afternoon was spent preparing the week's shopping list and then heading to Sainsbury's to fulfil the list. When we got home and unloaded, I had thought we would get some Kindle time. It didn't happen. I had decided to make chicken and bacon pie in red wine gravy for dinner. When I worked out the timings, it was clear I had to start immediately so that the filling had time to cool down. The recipe, gleaned from ChatGPT, was easy to follow and turned out to be absolutely delicious. I have made a copy so that I can make it again next time I have some leftover chicken and leftover wine.

That's the final entry for 2025. It has been a good year for our family. 

Floundering

It was a strange day. I was intellectually flioundering. I goot up just before seven and enjoyed a coffee and a quiet hour with the overnight news and some of the social media. Ellie was not due until later. In fact, by the tie she was dropped off, I was washed dresed and ready to go for my morning walk. She was clearly not ready for the world. She marched staright upstairs and went back to bed. It was nearly midday before she emerged.

I set off for my morning walk. It was bright and sunny, but very cold. I was glad of my gloves and my wooly hat. I deliberately added an extra 500m tomy usual route. If I manage a similar route tomorrow I will have cracked over 100 miles for the month. My new audiobook was chatting away in my ears as I walked and slowly came to grips with the new cast.

The rest of the day has been quite. I updated the accounts, and then I strated to look at some options for an August holiday. This seemed like an interminable quest. I looked at cruises, I looked at hotels, and I started to wade throught 254 pages of holiday cottages. In the end, I gave up. I may revist this in the future but I found the while exercise dispiriting, particularly when Di pointed out that we haven't booked Jasper into the cattery yet. As usual, our holidays are constranined by the cat.

Normality is creeping up

 I was up early. Zoe was back at work, which meant we were on duty for Ellie. She bundled into the house and quickly went upstairs to snuggle down with Nana. They both wandered back down about 30 minutes later.

Ellie was in a chirpy mood and spent quite a while at her new dressing table, sorting out her bows and various skin and hair products. She then declared that the Alexa Echo in her bedroom didn't seem to be working. Grandpa stepped in and reset the device, and then tested that it would respond to commands, play music, and play radio stations for her. This proved to be a success as, later, she spent an hour or so in her room listening to Capitol Radio.

I went out for my morning walk, but had to cut it short due to the buildup of pressure from the morning's coffee intake. When I got back, E`llie was making the most of the colour-by-numbers books and the collection of 108 coloured markers I had got for her Christmas. She has only done one picture so far, but it looks very good.

After lunch, Ellie sat in the lounge watching TV. Di and I looked at options for a short break in February. We accidentally booked a few days in Jersey, staying at a hotel that I last stayed in about 70 years ago during my one and only trip to Jersey. It's all booked and paid for, and I even have the parking sorted for the airport. It's nice to be organised!

I went out for another walk during the afternoon. Di had heard that her meds were ready at the Chemist, so I looped through the village so I could pick them up for her. By the time I arrived home, Zoe had been to collect Ellie, and we had a quiet evening in front of us.

Relax

We had a very quiet and relaxing day. We had a leisurely breakfast, lingering over the news and social media. Then we set about restoring the kitchen and family room to a semblance of normality. Spare chairs were returned, rubbish was binned, cardboard and bottles were recycled, the table was converted back to its normal size, and the hob was cleaned.

With everything done, I finally went out for my walk. Considering it was late morning, I was surprised by how few people were out and about.

The afternoon was spent with our Kindles, and dinner was essentially cold meat leftovers.

That was about it. 

Family Day

There is no official name for today (unlike yesterday, Boxing Day), so I will refer to it as Family Day. I was up early and, having taken a tea up to Di, spent a quiet hour contemplating the overnight news and the plan for today's meal preparations. Once Di had emerged, I took the opportunity to go out for my morning walk. Like yesterday, it was very quiet as I wandered around my usual route.

Once I was back home, I grabbed the spare chairs from the garage and expanded the dining table. I then took the naan breads from the freezer so that they would be ready to heat up when needed. Rice was left to soak, and onions were diced and fried gently until they began to caramelise. Everything was on track.

Zoe and Ellie arrived first, soon followed by Kim. (Jon was at work). We gathered in Ellie's bedroom so that she could open her remaining presents from us... and see the dressing table and stool we had installed in the bedroom. She was very excited.

Jane and Trevor had been delayed by poor SatNav guidance, but that was no problem as we had a very flexible menu which I could "activate" whenever they arrived. In the end, they weren't significantly later than originally planned, and it was great to have them and Mark here for the day. As drinks were passed around, I fired up the hob. The rice baked in the oven, Ellie's curry simmered on the hob, the salmon for Jane and Di's pasta was flaked into the white wine reduction with some prawns and a huge glug of cream, and 7 chicken breasts (cut into chunks) were added to the onions and cooked in a Bhuna sauce. After the main dishes were tidied away, there was a selection of sweets (which Jane had kindly brought). 

After the meal, we sat at the table and played a card game that Ellie had received for Christmas. This seemed to be great fun. I wasn't quite clear on the rules and am not sure if I won (because I cleared my hand first) or lost (because I cleared my hand first). Once I was out, I continued to observe and saw the game until the last players fought to discard their remaining cards. It was clearly a lot of fun.

We retired to the lounge where some more gifts were exchanged, and Ellie and Mark sat on the floor assembling a Lego model. Ellie got bored after a while, but Mark finished the model without her valued input (he's become such a clever boy!!!)

Everything broke up early in the evening, and we wished everyone a safe journey home. We then spent some time tidying up and reloading the dishwasher before settling down in front of the TV. It had been a lovely "Family Day".

A Lull

 Today was a lull. I was up early and enjoyed a quiet coffee while reading the news and devouring some of the social media. While waiting for Di to come down, I started to install and configure the Echo Show that Zoe had given us. It was clear that there were plenty of settings that could be tweaked as I decided how best to use the device, and resolved to return to it during the day. 

Once Di had come down and I had provided her with life-sustaining beverages, I dressed and headed out for my walk. Again, it was cold, a mere 2 °C, but at least we didn't have the bitter wind of yesterday. It was a very quiet walk. There were far fewer people out and about than yesterday. I assume they were nursing hangovers or still in a food coma from the festivities.

Back home, I grabbed breakfast and then configured (yes, I know!) the kettle. This didn't take long, and I can now, in addition to just pressing a button, instruct Alexa to "Turn on the kettle" without being in the kitchen. Indeed, using the Alexa app, I should be able to do it without being in the house. Of course, the flaw in the design is that the kettle cannot fill itself, so I have to remember to always ensure there's at least a couple of cups of water in the device. I did learn something, doing this. The kettle recommends that we should only heat the water to 86 °C for tea and 90 °C for coffee (it tells you the temperature of the water as it heats up and stops heating at the temperature you set). I tried both settings, and they were just fine.

Di spent much of the morning baking, and there was a wonderful smell pervading the kitchen. I know she has some butter icing, and I assume she will decorate the cakes tomorrow morning.

We had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles before I started on this evening's dinner and preparation for tomorrow's festivities. Half a side of salmon has been baked, and 8 large chicken breasts have been roasted, ready for the morning. After we had finished our dinner, I went to our local Indian takeaway to get some onion bhajis ready for tomorrow. Everything I could do in advance is now done.

It is likely to be a busy day tomorrow, but for now, a quiet evening is planned.

Christmas

 Not having young children (or old children) in the house, there was no early morning excitement. I got up at my usual time and worked my way through a reviving coffee, the overnight news, and a smattering of social media feeds. Diane wandered down a little while later, and after I had made her a tea, had a shower, and made her a coffee, I set off on my morning walk.

It was only 2 °C, and there was a biting wind. I was glad of my woolly hat and my leather jacket (nothing seems to cut out the wind as well as a leather jacket). My audiobook chatted away in my ears, recalling life in the mid-1800s. (When I say recalling, I do not imply they are my recollections, but rather they transport the imagination to that period!!!). Despite the cold, there were plenty of fellow walkers with their dogs, and everyone had a cheery "Merry Christmas" greeting as they passed.

Once I had returned home and grabbed some breakfast, I took a spare chair and some frozen "pigs in blankets" around to Zoe. She was very well organised with her cooking schedule worked out a taped to the worktop. I left her to it and promised we would be back at 12:30.

As promised, we walked back and joined the festivities. Ellie was back home after a week with Pete, Kim and Jon were there, and we made up the party. After sharing some Christmas drinks, we opened the presents. The pile of gifts wasn't as big as in previous years since we could actually see the wall against which they were piled.

We were all immensely lucky and had some wonderful and thoughtful presents. Zoe was particularly proud of her selection for a joint present to us, combining my love of technology with Di's love of tea. She bought us a smart kettle that we can control from a phone app or through Alexa!

It goes without saying that Zoe presented us with a wonderful Christmas Lunch. After a salmon and prawn starter, we marched into the main event. There was a turkey crown (only half of which was needed), roasted potatoes, carrots, and parsnips; there was cabbage, brussels sprouts, peas, gravy, and bread sauce. We hardly seemed to make a dent in the food she served up. What's more, we realised when we had finished that a) we had forgotten the ham, and b) we had no room for dessert.

We had a lovely afternoon as Ellie played with various gifts and, item by item, gave a fashion show of the outfits she had received. Zoe even set up the karaoke on Ellie's Nintendo Switch.

Jon and Kim left at about 18:00, and we went soon after. (I popped home to get the car as there was so much to take back). 

We had a quiet evening after a wonderful Christmas Day.

Preparation

 After a coffee and a shower, I went for my morning walk. It was a bit cooler this morning, but the sun (once above the horizon) was bright and the day looked promising. As I wandered along my route, a black BMW veered towards me. I prepared to leap out of the way before realising it was Lottie (with a great big smile on her face). She waved and drove on by.

Once home, I made breakfast, and then Di went to collect some meds for Jasper from the vet. I went and cleared the Orangery. For the last 10 days, it has been the repository of all of the Christmas decorations, while a suitable subset was chosen for this year. They are now back in the garage, and the Orangery is habitable again.

The next item on the agenda was to cook the ham. This was a three and a half hour marathon. It is now cooked, wrapped in foil, and nestling in the bottom of the fridge. I'll slice it in the morning, before going to Zoe's.

I have received most of the results from my blood tests. All were normal except a couple, which were marginally above the recommended range. These are related to cholesterol, and the accompanying note suggested I might wish to take statins. Well, the fact of the matter is that I don't like taking medication except when absolutely necessary. So, should I or shouldn't I? I spent several hours reading the guidance on the NHS website, and still could not decide. Eventually, I wrote a very long description of my dilemma and submitted it to ChatGPT. I was delighted by the analysis it provided, and I now feel better informed so that I can have a discussion with the GP.

We managed a quiet hour or so with our Kindles before dinner, but now that dinner is over, it is time to wrap the Christmas presents.

Busy Busy

It's been a busy day. I was up at 6:30 and enjoyed my early morning coffee while checking on what the world had been up to overnight. Soon after Di came down, I grabbed my walking shoes and jacket and set off for a quick march to the Doctor's Surgery. My annual MOT was scheduled. Most of the items had been dealt with by means of a questionnaire, which I returned a couple of weeks ago. What was outstanding was a blood sample and a urine sample. The former I couldn't submit by email, and the second, they hadn't requested in advance. I will have to return with that when convenient! I walked home, reported to the boss, then settled down for some breakfast.

With breakfast done, I booked a slot at the recycling tip, then loaded the car with the detritus left after yesterday's construction project. I also received the code to collect a stool that would accompany Ellie's dressing table. Stopping first at Sainsbury's, I dropped into Argos and collected the stool. It was chaos in there, and the car park was rammed full. I was lucky, however, and was back in the car within about 10 minutes. The community tip has timed entries. I was 15 minutes early, but they let me in anyway. The detritus was ejected, and I headed home.

Back home, I attacked the carpets with the spot cleaner after Jasper had left his mark, and then sat down at the computer to send my various e-cards. This took a couple of hours.

During the afternoon, I prepared a batch of "Grandpa's Curry Sauce" ready for Ellie over the weekend. This is not a quick recipe, requiring slow caramelisation of the onions and then an hour of simmering to soften all of the vegetables. Finally, the whole mixture is blitzed with the stick blender and then sealed in a container, waiting to be used when required. With the curry sauce finished, we had 45 minutes of Kindle time before I started on dinner.

It's been a good and busy day.

Self Assembly

 My morning started just before seven. A coffee was used to kick-start the body, and I sat and read through the overnight news and glanced at social media. When Di emerged, I made her a coffee and then headed off for my morning walk. By the end of my first circuit, I had finished my Audiobook and started on another. Once home, I had my breakfast and did some admin. I was plucking up courage for the main project for the day.

We had bought an illuminated vanity table (dressing table) for Ellie's bedroom. It has been sitting in its box in the garage since September. It is, as you would expect nowadays, a self-assembly flat pack. Because of the sheer weight of it, I unpacked it downstairs and shuttled the components upstairs in several hundred trips. Then, I grabbed my tools and the assembly instructions and started fixing parts E, F, and G to side A, then fixed side B to the assembly. So it went on for the next two and a half hours. Over the years, I have frequently complained about the assembly instructions and process. I could not fault this. The instructions were clear, the fixings were well labelled, and the construction seemed very robust. The final stage of the process was to fit the lights around the mirror and wire them in series at the back. Even this went without a hitch. At the end, the only items I had left over were in a package marked Extras, where there nestled one of two spares of every fastening that had been used. I handed the finished article over to Diane so that she could dress the room.

What was left of the afternoon saw some Kindle time (another book bit the dust), and another has been selected to start later tonight.

Scam

 After an early morning coffee and a shower, I headed out for my morning walk. My route was deserted, and I added an extra kilometre to the usual circuit. An hour later, I was home, and the porridge was simmering on the hob as my coffee filtered out of the Nespresso. It was a splendid start to the day.

I hadn't got much on the agenda, but Di was going to do some Xmas decorating. I took the opportunity, mid-morning, to drive to Shripney and pick up some cat litter (Jasper is a lazy cat and won't go to fetch his litter or his food). The shops and car parks were busy, but I was still home within about 30 minutes.

I received an email from a chap whose name rang a bell. His family name matched that of Diane's great-grandmother. The email said, "I'm just checking that this email address is still current for you." I checked, did I have emails from him in the past? Yes, I did, but not since 2005, and it turned out that he lives locally. I responded to the email. "Yes, the address is current, and we have moved house and are now living a few miles away from you. How about meeting for coffee?" I received a response within a few minutes (almost too quickly). The response said, "I need to get an Airbnb Gift Card for my friend, who is diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer. It's her birthday, but I can't do this now because I tried purchasing it online, but unfortunately, I had no luck with that. I was wondering if you could purchase the gift card from your end and send it directly to my friend's email address.".... Guess what, I didn't fall for it. What's more, Google Mail has subsequently slapped a warning message on the email. Just be aware, folks. They are out to get you at Christmas time.

Raid

Last night was a skirmish. This morning, Zoe and I conducted a full raid. I collected her at 7:30, and we went straight to Sainsbury's, where we shopped for what would be needed for Christmas (as opposed to the normal week's shopping). As we passed the meat van (a butcher who parks by the Pink Pub on Saturday morning to sell fresh meat), the car park was rammed full, and people were queuing around the corner. This did not bode well for Sainsbury's. We needn't have worried, however, the car park was almost empty and so was the store (much like last night). We whizzed around the aisles, filling our two trolleys and were home an hour after setting off. Result!

I joined the weekly Zoom call with my cousins. There didn't seem to be a specific theme this week; it was just general chit-chat. When the call was finished, I reviewed the receipt from the earlier shopping trip. It was a good job that I did. I found 2 anomalies: a carton of beer, discounted to £7.99, had been charged at £13.50, and more significantly, Zoe's staff discount seemed to have been applied at the wrong rate. I took the receipt back to Zoe (with the carton of beer), and she said she would deal with it when she got to work later.

We drove up to The Refectory at Milford. We had arranged to meet Jan and John for lunch. It was a lovely, bright morning for a drive, and we had an excellent run through. We were just finishing a coffee when Jand and John arrived. Like last weekend, we had a lovely lunch. Di had some courgette fritters to start with, and these were followed by a ciabatta filled with hot turkey, bacon and brie, and she finished off with Xmas pudding. I started with their sticky bang-bang pork bites and followed up with a venison, bacon and port pie; for dessert, I had an apple crumble. We chatted throughout the meal, catching up on Xmas plans, family health, and family jobs. It was a very pleasant couple of hours.

We arrived home at 4 p.m. and had a quiet couple of hours with our Kindles before switching on the TV. Mid-evening, there was a rap at the door as Amazon delivered one of our last batches of Xmas presents. We finished the evening watching a documentary about the Big Freeze of winter 62/63. It was so interesting seeing a more UK-wide view of that winter, as opposed to our specific memories from our childhood.

Skirmish

 A leisurely start to the day revealed a dry morning with clouds decorating the firmament and the promise of sunshine once it could drag itself up over the horizon. I had one quick coffee and then went out for my usual walk. As there was no particular hurry, I added an extra kilometre to the route.

Over breakfast, Di revealed that she had decided not to have a Christmas tree this year. I duly took the tree back down and packed it away for another year. The other decorations would be applied tastefully over the next few days! 

I returned to the conundrum regarding the ability to insert photos into the blog. I found an app which looked promising. I downloaded the free trial and set about testing it. It didn't work. In fact, it no longer seems to support "blogger", despite having been updated in the last week, and being called BlogTouch for Blogger! That was a waste of an hour or so. The real shame is that it seemed so promising!

Zoe dropped by at lunchtime to leave Ellie with us. She was as good as gold (after last night) and played all afternoon. Pete came along soon after 16:00 to collect her. She will be with Pete until Christmas Day now.

We had a quick dinner and then went on our first shopping skirmish. We hit Sainsbury's just after 18:00 and were gobsmacked to find the car park almost empty and the store a pleasure to walk around. We managed to get everything we wanted on this first raid, but another raid is planned for tomorrow morning.