Icy Winds.

It has been very very cold today, cold but dry and with glorious sunshine in the morning. Metcheck is still saying no snow until mid-day tomorrow but the tv forecast mentioned the possibility of snow tonight. There have been icy winds blowing all day straight down from Siberia and the pond has a covering of ice. Not good for the frogspawn that's in there.

Peter was suffering with his knee today as a result of having to climb up into one of the small lofts yesterday to change the ball valve on a water tank up there. He also managed to wrench a knuckle joint undoing the valve. Next time he says he'll call in a plumber instead of trying to wind himself around the rafters in that confined space. The main loft isn't much better and you have to crawl along on hands and knees but at least most of that has a floor and you don't have to balance on the joists. So no cliff walk for us today. Instead I went for a walk when I took the car up to the top of the hill.

As I parked the car the blue skies were beginning to cloud over.

Hoping for a bit of shelter from the biting wind I walked down to Bowden Corner and went through the gate on the left along the grassy track.

This must be a bit closer to how the tracks would have looked in the past before the motor car though the hedges wouldn't have been neatly squared off by a hedge trimmer.

This stretch of road used to be my running track and on my homeward journey I started walking a little faster and faster and then I couldn't resist running until my common sense stopped me. I would love to know how much my fitness has increased with all these sit-ups that I do each day but I know my knee would pay the price.

As I walked down the lane there were some great views down to the sea with the sun's rays shining through the clouds.

More friends of the boys came over today and they all disappeared to some National Trust woods at East Down to have an airsoft session. I've been a good mum and made them a hearty vegetable soup yesterday and chili con carne today and apple & blackcurrant crumble with the last of the blackcurrants I picked last summer. They have been mostly looking after themselves and brought in several loads of wood for me when asked. Hopefully they'll pick up all the airsoft pellets lying around the house or else they'll be disappearing up the hoover, ( the pellets not the boys).