Stuck in the Clouds.

Woke this morning to find that the outside world beyond the houses had disappeared. The low clouds lifted in the middle of the day but by the time I returned from shopping it had settled again to below the tops of the hills. The wet windscreen showed I had driven into the cloud layer as I turned into our little estate.

I hadn't planned to go shopping and Peter even offered to go and get anything I needed for my final baking session but I still wanted to try and find one gift item. I'm glad I did because I found an even better version of the thing I wanted. I dropped into B&Q for a quick browse and couldn't resist a pack of 24 red tree  baubles for 30p. This year's decorations will be minimal but the baubles would work well as part of a Christmas door wreath in the future. Driving over the new bridge the road down to town and big stores was solid with traffic. A bit of stop start to get down the hill and in the Tesco's car park I had to go round again to find a space in my customary corner. It's funny how we become creatures of habit. A brass band was playing carols inside Tesco's which made a welcome change from the muzak style Christmas offering. Needless to say Tesco's was filled with whole families stocking up for Christmas but I only had a short shopping list and didn't need to rush. I got the cream, buttermilk and croissants plus a few other items and headed home. To misquote something I saw on FB, people stock up with a month's worth of food because the shops will be shut for 12 hours.

After a restful cup of tea I got on with the scheduled baking. I've found Peter's oven thermometer very useful as the oven's gas settings don't reach the expected temperature.  I also did a little present wrapping. Not wanting to be wasteful I do keep tissue paper and pretty gift bags to use again. This year I've jazzed up the presents with some shimmery gift ribbon I bought last year in the post Christmas sales.