Cold.

After a stormy night today has been mostly dry with icy winds blowing. I didn't dare risk my back by working outside but I've been able to get on with several indoor jobs. Most of my afternoon was spent sitting at the kitchen table brushing my favourite fluffy fleece hoody after it had been in the wash. Result one soft and fluffy hoody to wear to work and lots of black fluff around the place. I did hoover up afterwards but I'm sure that I'll be finding bits of fluff around the place for a while. I also had a nice long session going through my blog to take notes for my journal. Lots of happy memories and sunny days while the wind whistled outside.

On this week's list of jobs was 'start sorting the pink bedroom'. I've started with the easiest of rooms as there's little stored in there apart from a box of clothes under the bed and more in the wardrobe. I did manage to sort out a few items of clothing to take to the charity shop but I'm hanging onto things that either will fit when I drop some weight or might be needed in years to come if I get a bit larger. Once I give up work and we move to the coast in a new area I don't see myself bothering much with clothes shopping. It will be nice then to have a selection to chose from when my current favourites are either worn out or grown out of.

Having gone through that dental treatment at the hospital last November I'm still having trouble in the same spot this time a bit worse. I phoned the clinic this morning and was able to refer myself back to see the same consultant and my appointment for that is in a week's time. If I had gone through my dentist it could have taken months to get an appointment so I'm feeling quite pleased with myself.

Dry.

There was more in the way of sunshine this morning and it hasn't rained at all. I slept until 9.00 then spent the rest of the morning working at my pc. 

Driving to work my attention was caught by the strange antics of a helicopter. It's not unusual to see helicopters flying low bringing patients to the local hospital but what caught my eye was the way this one was flying. At first glance it looked to be heading steeply upwards but this was due to the fact that it was banking into a turn. Next it flew down to hilltop height, this was at Burridge, then dropped even lower so that it was flying in the valley at the same height as the road I was driving along. It then made another turn dropping even lower at the entrance to the valley that leads to Muddiford and my last view was of it making another tighter turn as if it was going to land. It was bright yellow which is the colour of the coastguard's helicopter though that service was privatised last autumn by Cameron who then had the check to fly into Chivenor (where the coastguard helicopter was) on a visit to north Devon.

I had a rewarding afternoon with the Reception children working with just a few at a time to paint their self-portraits. I took in some small hand mirrors for the children to use as the school 'safety' mirrors aren't very good and tried to encourage them to paint what they saw rather than what they thought they saw ie cartoon images. After school we had a staff meeting which was mainly a diary dates meeting putting in dates right up to the Easter holiday.

Yesterday at the end of the afternoon playtime a group of children came running up to me to tell me that a child had his leg stuck in the fence. Sure enough a boy had his knee jammed between the upright fence planks and was crying hysterically. All I needed to do was lift him up a little so that his leg straightened and out it popped. End of drama, thank goodness it wasn't a stuck head though that wouldn't be possible with our fencing. Today at playtime a child came up to me complaining that another had spat at her. After talking to the offender it turned out that it wasn't quite the case and she had blown a raspberry at the other child. I pointed out this wasn't very nice and made her apologise but at least it wasn't any worse. (In this country spitting at somebody is legally an assault.)

A Little Sun.

There was a bit more in the way of sunshine this morning before the day settled back into wet and grey. I went out before breakfast to shovel up the gravel that had been washed down from the drive and use it to repair the rut that formed yesterday. Still 3 flooded places on the road to work.

After breakfast I put my fighting knives up on the wall above my pc. It was only a matter of fixing 2 screws into the wall but because the wall is concrete blocks beneath the plaster I had to use the extra heavy power drill.

Just before I left for school Peter arrived back home. He had slipped on some mud in the car park at work and wrenched his back. He duly reported his injury, not because he's after any compensation but his firm is American owned and has the meanest attitude towards its workers. As the morning went on his back got worse so he was sent home. He's talked to his doctor who is pretty sure it's a pulled muscle so he's home for at least a week. On the good side his new chair is providing perfect support for his sore back. 

When I got home from work there was a parcel waiting for me with this hobbit based clock inside, a Christmas present from Vytas and Sally. I think hobbits have the right idea about meal times.

Floods.

It's been a day of sudden severe downpours. These photos show the stream this morning. By the time I drove to work there were the usual flooded places on the back road and a few new floods which I drove through carefully. 

By the time I came home this evening the flooded places on the back  road had increased in size and the twin streams running down the sides of the road down from the Lewis' farm were almost meeting in the middle of the road. At home the stream had risen over the top of the culvert and the bog garden was under water. It was unnerving to see the stream at the back of the house only a foot below the level of the block wall and the front patio was partly flooded too. The 2 dams on the far side of the road above the garden were just about holding up but a lot of water was coming down on the other side washing away the gravel on that side of the drive. I changed into waterproofs, reinforced the 2 dams then dug up more soil from the side of the road to make a large dam to divert the water on the other side. Not great for my back which is still sore from yesterday. I've just been out (6.30) and the water level has dropped by about 6" so I shan't be worrying all night.

This morning I bit the bullet and stood on those scales. I find I can keep my weight steady by eating sensibly but if I want to lose weight then I need the extra reinforcement of daily weighing. That's what works for me. I nearly fell on Day 1 when I went to the Co-Op after school. There with 75% off were 2 of my favourite maple pecan Danish pastries not to mention brandy cream in vast quantities. But I was strong and made do with persimmons, low fat yoghurts and some Wensleydale with cranberries (I allow myself that in small quantities).

This morning I put away Christmas - took down the 3 ornaments, saved family cards and recycled the rest into gift tags or shopping list cards. There are times when I find it helpful to write a daily jobs list but for now I'm going to try writing a weekly list of the extra jobs I need to get through. 

Not So Wet.

It's the last (indulgent) day of the holidays. We're both back to work tomorrow and I will be back on my diet. Too many treats have left me a little larger than I should be. I've done it before so I can do it again.

After a wet night the day has been mainly dry so out I went to work in the garden. There were a couple of jobs I had hoped the boys would have had time to help me with but they weren't here that long and it did rain a lot so it's down to me. One of the jobs was to dig out the stump of the Irish Yew tree which is in the middle of what I want to present to prospective buyers as a veg plot. Up I went with my hand tools and bow saw to work old lady style kneeling on the ground. After a couple of hours I had dug a big hole around the tree and cut the exposed roots. So far it's not even rocking so it's going to take more digging and cutting before I can get the tree stump out. After all that I hobbled down the garden as my back was somewhat sore. Thank goodness for my stock of strong painkillers but I shall have to pace myself a bit better in future.

Wet

 Taken in the early afternoon.

Still warm but raining for a lot of the day. I blame a stuffy sinus type headache for my lack of get up and go today. However I did iron all the sheets washed yesterday while watching The Life of Pi which I thought was an excellent film. Right now I can hear the whistling of the wind and the steady drumming of the rain. A good time to curl up and watch more Game of Thrones episodes.

Happy New Year.

I wonder what the New Year will bring?

It did stop raining last night so at 11.00 we headed into town. We didn't go in last year and I'm sorry to say that it was quite a disappointment though I'm glad we made the effort and did something. Perhaps because there was no live music playing in The Square not even the local radio blaring out on The Strand but it seemed incredibly empty with not a fancy dress costume in sight. 

A few minutes before midnight people came out of the pubs and clubs to increase the crowd and a few of them were in fancy dress or party attire. (I did see a number of fancy dress parties in the area on FB this morning.) I thought the fireworks were pretty good with plenty of bangs and lots of new colours. It was over all too soon and we drove back home where we toasted the New Year and chatted round the kitchen table.

It was raining gently this morning as Romas and Laura set  off on their long drive back to Stoke. It has been so lovely having the youngsters down this holiday.

It has rained on and off all afternoon so we've had a quiet day. A couple of days to catch up on sleep and then we'll both be back at work.