Cold.

Went downstairs this morning to discover a cool kitchen and a rayburn which had GONE OUT! It was only yesterday that Peter had said it must be soon time to service it and change the wicks. Servicing the rayburn takes a toll on Pete's hands and knees at the best of times and right now there is now way that he could do it. He rang the engineer who said he might be able to come today, if not it would be Tuesday. Then we saw that we did not have enough replacement wick so Peter sent me rushing down to RGB, the only place you can get it locally. RGB were closing in 20 mins so I drove like the proverbial bat out of hell and got there 5 mins before they closed. But shock, horror they had run out of rayburn wick. I did call in at the Co-op and bought some blueberries to eat on the way home as well as some reduced bread and a few other things we needed. It was when I got home that I realised that the engineer would surely have ample wicks in his van - duh! Luckily he was able to make it this afternoon and the rayburn is now burning merrily away.

It's been a day of sunshine and wintry showers. I wrapped up well and spent the afternoon working on Project Sunshine, ie sawing down another tree. I got half-way through the tree and then kept waiting at a safe distance hoping that the strong wind would help the tree down. Which it did, eventually. It was quite cold and at one point I was pelted with hail. I took shelter by the side of one of the bigger trees and it was funny to see the hail stones bouncing on the grass like ping-pong balls. Some were bouncing up a good 12".

I got the big tree down and then I cut down the small trunk that looks as if it is growing straight up from the stump of the cut tree. Tomorrow I'll be tidying up all the branches from those 2 trees. At least we will have a good supply of beech wood for next winter. I've got a wood fire burning now as it has been a chilly day and Peter's arthritis is still bad.
PS Had a good time last night. Our team came 3rd out of 9 teams which was good as there were only 4 of us instead of 6. The point of the evening was to raise money for charity and it is nice to be out with friends.