Lighthouses.

It's been dry and not too cold during the day but the temperature began to drop by late afternoon. The pond was frozen over by 4.00 and the Met Office predictions are for -2C at 6.00 and -4C with mist at 9.00. For once I'm taking Peter's advice and not going to choir as the back road I drive along will definitely not have been treated. I know people in countries where snow and ice happen all winter long will think we are silly to be making such a fuss but since these conditions happen so rarely we are not used to them and have to take care.

I got to sleep early last night so was up by 5.30. It was still dark when I sat in the doorway with my cup of tea (the terrace was wet from overnight rain) but I could tell by the lack of stars that it was cloudy overhead. There were some breaks in the cloud and every now and again I could see Venus shining up above. Occasionally I caught sight of the light from a lighthouse but for the most part the Llyn Peninsula  was hidden from view. It was so dark that even the birds were still asleep. 

(Photo by Rude health)

However after going back inside and doing my Duo Lingo for the day I returned to the terrace, this time with a coffee. The sky was just beginning to lighten and I was able to see lights on the Llyn. At least one was a lighthouse which appeared to be flashing 9 flashes followed by a couple of seconds break and then flashing again. This strange sequence may be due to the rotating nature of the light and the fact that it is over 30 miles away. At first I thought it might be the Bardsey lighthouse (below) but Bardsey is the very last island and the lighthouse has a red light. I think what I was seeing was the St Tudwal's Lighthouse (above) on St Tudwal's Island West. Both are now automated but it was interesting to read up about them. The former lighthouse keeper's cottages are now holiday cottages, there's a thought though at 650m by 167m the island doesn't match up to Lundy. Another interesting fact, St Tudwal's island West is owned by Bear Grylls.

I spent the morning working my way round the top of the lawn with the garden fork. In the afternoon I carried on but on my knees using a hand hoe to remove the weeds as I don't want to destroy my back. My initial plan was to get the ground weed free by Spring ready for the stones but now I'm revising my timetable. I'll clear the ground roughly first then work on the new flower beds. Next will be the clearing of the path, a winding one of course before putting down an initial path of fine gravel so that we're not walking through mud all the time. After that I can take my time getting rid of all the rest of the roots especially the brambles. While I worked a couple of timid robins kept hopping down to collect worms and grubs whenever I stopped moving. A female blackbird was much bolder and bravely searched the ground just a few feet away from a human in bright yellow high viz coat hacking at the ground. At one point I could hear Zeus and Cosmo doing their wolf howling. A visitor once asked me if they were in distress and I had to explain that they were simply enjoying expressing their wolf nature. A bit later I heard a helicopter in the distance. I stood up for a look, any excuse for a rest, and saw that it was dark coloured so either military or private. It went off in the distance, swung around and approached the village from the south. At that point I realised it was the guy who lands his helicopter in the back garden of his holiday home near the shop. No mean feat considering his back garden is about the size of a tennis court. (His house is one of those with gables in the bottom right of the photo below.)

A dusting of snow on the mountains.