Storms.

We've had all sorts of dramatic weather today. Some sunny spells, lots of intense downpours and thunderstorms across the day and recently a tremendous amount of large hailstones. The thunderstorms in the afternoon caused brief powercuts but the latest one has blacked out parts of the village and a lot of the surrounding area. Thankfully we haven't lost power  on this wild and cold night.  

I've only seen one rainbow today. I was excitedly photographing this small segment then turned around to see a much bigger section of the other end behind me.

Definitely a day for indoor jobs so I began with checking out the sink waste pipe. It's not blocked but every now and again makes gurgling sounds. Peter, having once been a plumber said we should check the trap under the kitchen sink. By 'we' he means me as the arthritis in his knees and hands stops him from kneeling or undoing the joints in the pipe work. Out comes everything from the cupboard so I could see what I was dealing with and it didn't look good. To start with the shelf in the cupboard can't be removed due to the bar at the front and the clips at the side holding it securely in place. I was just about able to slide a tray under the trap to catch any spills but there wasn't enough room to undo the trap and remove it. It looked as if the only solution would be to somehow cut a hole in the shelf. That I wasn't prepared to do today but before I began putting everything back I thought of a solution which actually worked. I undid the ring at the top of the trap then loosened the ring at the side so that I could turn the whole trap on its side tipping out the water in it. I was able to clean out the trap with an old brush but ........ there was nothing in it but water. So the whole effort was for nothing. Any problem must be in the long waste pipe that runs along the outside of the house and can easily be accesed by screw on end caps. 

Taking everything out of the cupboard did give me a chance to have a tidy up including using some of that new gel tape to stick a basket to the door for the dustpan and brush. 

Finally I was able to get on with baking another batch of Christmas biscuits. Even after resting in the fridge the lighter mix was sticky and hard to handle. I think the chocolate added to the dark mix helped firm it up so I have written a note in the recipe book to add white chocolate to the lighter mix.

With the power flicking on and off in the afternoon the electric clocks either went off or had the wrong time which might explain why I got my time all mixed up when it came to going out to choir. I left an hour early and didn't discover my mistake until I got to Tal-y-Bont. There wasn't much point in driving home along dark lanes only to go out again 20 minutes later so I sat in the car for 45 minutes. Silly me. Choir was fun as usual. We spent a lot of time learning Calon Lan in parts. It's a traditional Welsh hymn that all the old folk in the residential home will know. We start the Christmas carols next week.