Sunny.

It's been sunny with an icy north easterly wind blowing. In the back garden which gets some protection from the big house behind it felt quite pleasant and I wondered where they had come up with the figure of -8C but just now I ventured into the back garden which had lost all its sun and it felt extremely cold. Today I was able to put up the first washing line pole and by propping up half of the other pole with stones and heavy pots I was able to string up a temporary washing line and hang out some washing.

This morning the builder/handyman who is currently working next door came round to look at what I want done with the decking. I've realised that the two sagging lower levels will need replacing but the top section will be made using the old salvaged decking and the bit where the balustrade was will remain as it is. It was so nice out that I took some time to sit with the sun on my face while I read. When Peter came out and joined me for a while we could hear a terrific caterwauling from Fluffy Cat with Speedy's lower growls. I've heard Fluffy Cat make just as much noise when Speedy was simply looking down at him from the fence so I wasn't too worried. Today things escalated into full blown fighting which continued on across several gardens and lasted for some time. When Speedy eventually returned he was buzzing with excitement and dripping a little blood from his ear. Patch had a more relaxed afternoon lying on the wooden pallet in the sun while I carried on scraping plaster from the paving slabs.

When I was at B&Q looking through the reduced items I came across a shiny metal pole which was just what I needed for my under stairs coat rail. The pole had been reduced because it was bent at the end but there was enough undamaged for the coat rail. All I had to do was to cut the metal pole to the correct length. The original plastic pole hadn't had enough strength to prevent it bowing with the weight of the coats but did the job for the time being.

The front of the house has been bathed in a lovely golden light all day. The photos do little justice to the setting sun which was a crimson glowing orb slowly descending behind the far hills. Must, must spend some time reacquainting myself with the camera's manual settings  so that I can capture more of such beautiful sunsets.