Snow.

We've had snow today. Not a lot and nothing settled unlike other areas but it looks like there may be more in the next few days. We are so grateful that the extra thick loft insulation and new windows are helping to keep the heat in. We had a local plumber come round this afternoon to give a price on putting radiators upstairs and  some other bits of plumbing. We've already had an estimate from the plumbers we used to use at Dingles but we would prefer to use somebody local. Who knows we might get a better price as Peter and he had connections from when Peter worked as a plumber locally and I taught his children when they were young. 

The snow fell intermittently during the day but that didn't stop me working on the decking. My cousin got in touch to tell me about the method she found to clean decking without a pressure washer or strong chemicals -laundry oxy-clean powder. As I had some I mixed it up in a bucket of warm water and began to scrub. It certainly shifted a lot of the dirt and green slime which had accumulated over a number of years. I also tried it on one of the concrete slabs and again it shifted the dirt but the lichens will need going over with the pressure washer. After an initial scrubbing I also tried leaving the dissolved oxy-clean on the planks for a hour before scrubbing again to give the stuff time to work.

The lower right hand section and the first six planks of the upper section have been done. Just to be using the hose to rinse off the decking makes for much less water to drain away not to mention that now we are in town we are on a water meter.

In between scrubbing the decking I had a trial run at making some chocolate truffles, some with rum and some plain. They were easy to make and taste pretty good. 

Peter went out and brought home some of the boxes from our storage unit which we hope to empty by the end of the month. The boxes of books are now up in the loft along with some pictures that had been in my study. I had a proper sort out of the last boxes in my study and now have a decent amount of room to do my exercises. It was a little cramped before and I had to be careful when waving my arms around. Time now to do my exercises before heading off to Pilates.