Stormy.

This was the satellite view of Storm Eleanor 23 hours ago. Contrary to predictions it hit the south-west as well. By evening yesterday the strong winds were whistling and gusting fiercely around the place. I had to go out last night to rescue the food caddy which was blowing about in the front garden. By morning the food caddy was at the bottom of the garden again and across the green a couple of wheelie bins had been blown over. (I should try and get into conversation with the older couples whose bins they are and let them know they can get the council to take them away if they are not being used.) The wind has continued all day long and many areas have been affected quite badly. Unlike at Dingles where the water and rayburn were not dependent on electricity and we had wood and a woodburner should we lose power here we would have no cooking or heating facilities though my nosy nature has found out that at least 2 nearby houses have woodburners.

Today we did one small DIY job, cutting a strip off the bottom of our bedroom door. The speckled black and grey carpet in the bedroom looks to be fairly new and the door was difficult to open fully over the carpet. For once we managed to work together without any major bickering. I think Peter is making more of an effort which in turn makes me a bit less assertive bossy. I would have tried to trim the top of the door as well as the metal over-door clothes hook thingy is scraping against the frame but went with Peter's view that it was unnecessary. 

I got my daily routine done by late afternoon as well as giving the Vax a thorough wipe down and washing the cloth dustbag again to get rid of any residual 'cat' smell. I've got an acute sense of smell which might be one reason why I'm forever opening windows to air out the place. Passive housing wouldn't do for me as it requires the house to be airtight to conserve heat.

The wind continues to whistle around our slightly draughty windows soon to be replaced with more efficient new windows. I've just paid the gas and electric bills for our first month here and even with the draughts and though we've had the central heating on a lot they came to less than half the cost of oil and electricity for Dingles. And that's before our new lower tariff fixed term contract kicks in.