Windy.

It's been bright and sunny today with strong cold winds.

We were woken this morning by a ring on the doorbell. It was my neighbour who quite rightly guessed I would be interested to know that there was a hedgehog in our garden. When I looked out of the study window I could see this chap (above) rootling about at the bottom of the path by the holly bush. I threw on a dressing gown, grabbed my camera and rushed out into the garden. When I got there the hog was snuffling and huffing loudly making his way along the flowerbed by the garden wall. I went and got some cat food on a lid and caught up with him in the far corner where I found another hedgehog. This one wasn't moving a lot and I was concerned that it might be injured or suffering from poisoning due to eating poisoned slugs. I put down the food and some water then went to get some gloves and something to scoop up the other hog but when I came back it was happily eating the cat food. Hog No 1 was still huffing which I assume was a sign he was interested in other things than food. Another neighbour came past so we showed him the hogs and I requested that he didn't put down any slug pellets. We left the hogs in peace and later all there was to see was an empty dish and a trail through the plants. I may put out some food late tonight but we have a street light right by this spot which doesn't go off until 1.00am plus a few local cats.

My day of excitement didn't end there. I was off to forage for supplies in the big wide world, okay I was going shopping. First stop was at the butchers' where I had to wave at them through the window and then give the chap who came out our order number. That went off without a hitch and I thought I was on a roll when I didn't have to wait at Boots, neither at the door nor at the pharmacy counter. That's when it began to unravel. Just the same as I did last month I handed over a piece of paper with our names, address and a list of the medications we needed to collect and to be ordered for next month. Although they handed over Peter's stuff they were unable to find mine. They could see the order on their computer but couldn't find the bag that should have been ready for me. Many apologies and they said they would sort it out and deliver  my medications to the house. That didn't seem too bad but ......... Peter has just opened his bag of medications and they've missed out a vital medicine without which he would be very ill in a day or maybe two. He's been on the phone and had the usual run around, the chemists say it's the surgery and vice versa. Peter is absolutely furious but it's too late to do anything this evening and between us we do have enough of those tablets for a few days.

One thing that surprised me today was the number of people in town, look how many cars there were in the cattle market car park, one of a number of car parks, and people are also parking in the High Street. I think the low numbers of local cases is making people complacent, let's hope they don't end up paying a serious price for their lack of care.

From the High Street I drove over to Lidl's, no queue at all today. There fate has intervened in my indulgent ways as all the half-price Eater chocolate has gone. I will admit to searching the reduced shelves in Tesco's and bringing home a couple of small chocolatey items. I need to ease my way back to my 'good' eating habits. I noticed that B&Q was actually open so I made it my final stop. We had to queue up outside and I was issued with a newly sanitised trolley. I made my way through the garden centre section but nothing caught my eye. Getting out of the place wasn't easy. They wouldn't let me abandon my trolley and go back out the entrance. Instead I had to join the queue waiting to pay. I did squeeze through to the front but the assistant wouldn't let me out until somebody was finished at a till and I could get out. My final stop was by my firend's house to deliver her meat order and supermarket shopping.

This orchid was half-price in Tesco's so I bought it as a treat, a calorie free one. It was only as I unwrapped it that I noticed its lovely scent.

Good news - we had an email letting us know that our friend with covid is improving. Let's hope she makes a speedy recovery.