Wet.

The day has been mild and generally wet. Too wet for finishing painting the garage windows but once the rain eased I went out and washed all the salt, sand and seagull bombings from all the windows, porch and balustrade.

I didn't put any seeds out for the birds until the afternoon but even before I'd gone back indoors the dunnock was down there pecking at the seeds. 

Peter went into town this morning and returned with two big gas cannisters for the barbecue. That's something we would use anyway and it gives a cooking method if the electricity goes off. There's more and more on the radio etc about being prepared for loss of power or interruption of food supplies that we feel it's worth taking seriously. 

Yesterday on the walk we talked about the issue and how those of us who either are or have been living in the country have always had a supply of foods for those times when the roads were flooded or too icy and keeping the basics come naturally. It's the town dwellers who really need the wake up call.

We've got a wind up radio on order and Peter has bought a second larger power bank to keep in the house. I reckon we're just about sorted.

While Peter was out I used his pc to write up my Christmas letter. I'm sure nothing exciting is going to happen in the next month. Then as there wasn't much else to do I did all my Christmas cards. Nothing is sealed down but they are in neat piles according to when they need to be sent or hand delivered. Some cards go to friends whom I haven't seen for many years but we enjoy reading their Christmas letters and it's a nice way to keep in touch. I've even had a look through some of the Christmas decorations but that was to look for the led tea lights as I'd like to put one inside the pumpkin I plan to carve. I knew they were out of power but I wasn't expecting a spare battery to be duff as well. I'll just have to get some more on Friday.

I'm pretty sure the bite on my side is from a horse fly. At the time I just thought it was another bramble or thorn sticking into me. The red area doubled in size quite quickly but from what I read it should be gone after 48 hours.

I've also had a simmering sore throat for the past week which along with a constant sinus headache makes me think I'm fighting off a cold. I hope that it doesn't go on for too long. If I wasn't on a diet I'd be curled up on the sofa with a coffee and plenty of biscuits. Oh well, Peter has got a beef stew going in the slow cooker which smells delicious.