Warm.

Another grey but even warmer day. The temperature, confirmed on the weather report, went up to 19C. One of my old English roses is suddenly sporting 2 new flowers.

I had planned for this to be a cooking day but as someone forgot to bring home a tray of free range eggs yesterday the Christmas cake will have to wait until the weekend. I did cook 2 red cabbages with bacon, apple and onions in vinegar and honey. Now I have 3 large (6 person) portions and 3 small portions stacked in the freezer. I had promised to make something for Peter to take to work for his team members but my options were limited by the lack of eggs. So I made some butter biscuits with chopped nuts in for them to have tomorrow. 

For most of the day I've been working outside. The cement did set even under the puddle that was still there today. In order to try and drain the raised bed there I used the wrecking bar to make holes down and into the subsoil. Unfortunately the subsoil is almost solid clay so even though the holes were 3-4ft deep I don't know how much effect they will  have. I also gave the honeysuckle that grows on the wall there a severe cutting back. That would have had to be done at some point and it made it easier for me to get to the back of the flower bed which now looks rather strange with all these holes in it. The soil is very wet there so I've got astilbes, primulas and ferns in there.

Later in the afternoon I did the slightly tedious but satisfying job of picking all the leaves, which were mainly from the acers, off the raised gravel and stone bed along the side of the house.