Cold.

There's been a northerly wind making it a lot colder today. It wouldn't be so bad if the sun was shining but with dark clouds covering the sky for most of the day it felt pretty miserable.

I was back to riding Cadno again this morning. I would have liked at least one more week riding Margaret to get used to her and to see what she is like in canter, not that we did any cantering today but the chap who usually rides her was back. I like Cadno too but I do have to keep on at him to keep the energy level up. One of our class had to change horses early on as her horse was lame, not a lot but enough not to be ridden. Instead she was given Bob a much larger quiet horse, who is often ridden by beginner adults and so has got a bit lazy in the school. E had to ride with a schooling whip in one hand and a crop in the other and eventually Bob woke up and realised that his rider expected him to work properly. From then on he was quite forward going. As I've already mentioned there was no cantering today just lots of trotting including sitting trot which I'm finding a much more comfortable now. A lot of the lesson was about keeping the horses on the bit and balanced and how each horse's conformation (proportions) affects how it moves.

Driving along the river after the lesson I spied a trio of swans feeding by the bank, a pair and their youngster who had not yet developed the orange beak that identified them as mute swans.

Before shopping at the supermarket I stopped at the industrial estate and bought some white plastic sleeving to go over the copper tail pipes of the radiators particularly the ones in the bathroom and wood and clear adhesive to make a frame for the triple mirror in the bathroom.

Then I called in at Charlie's where I bought a couple of Snow-in-Summer plants, which I'd been keeping an eye out for and a phlox in the half price 'sad' corner. I then gave in to temptation and bought this tiny ceramic Santa for the indoor driftwood tree. I also found a decoration made up of three very light sparkly baubles two of which I shall turn into silly earrings for when we sing in the old people's homes. That was only paid 49p. 

In town I indulged myself further and bought this light up (dog's) collar to wear to disco aerobics. (you can shorten the flexible tube.) Our teacher tends to wear sequinned tops and encourages us to be sparkly too. I think this will fit the bill though maybe more rave than disco. You can have two speeds of flashing but I'll just have it switched on. It will stay lit for two hours and comes with a cable to recharge the battery. That's one of the advantages of being older, you can be as silly as you like.

It was hard to not burst out laughing when I was in Screwfix when the customer next to me at the counter who when asked his address said Ty Bach. Yes that does literally mean little house but actually means a toilet. Much as if he had said the name of his house is The Outhouse. Traditionally in villages houses did not have numbers just names so your house name is important.