Laser Surgery For Peter.

Peter's laser eye surgery went well yesterday. His eyes are a bit more bloodshot than mine were but he says they feel fine and at his check up today his vision was nearly perfect and he is really pleased with the results already. We were also pleasantly surprised when the surgeon recommended a much less expensive version of the treatment as he said it would be better for Petr's eyes so he ended up having the same treatment as I did. It must be good working in that clinic because the procedure is not painful, has only the smallest amount of discomfort (usually), and the results are almost immediate. I had my 6 month check yesterday and my left eye which does have a tendency to feel dry or slightly gritty, is very slightly down in vision, (1/4 only). It will be checked again in 6 months and should there be any more deterioration they will correct it with more surgery (free lifetime after care). I drove us out of Bristol and had a reminder of city driving, lots of clutch control as you creep along in slow traffic keeping an eye open for pedestrians darting out between parked cars, watching out for road signs on an unfamiliar route and plenty of indicating from me to say 'sorry, I'm in the wrong lane and I need to be over .... there.' Then it was onto the motorway in the dark- not good, and lots of rain - also not good, and in fairly heavy traffic - so so. At least Peter has learnt to stop bugging me about not driving fast enough. I felt that sticking to the speed limit of 70 mph was quite fast enough in those condition and I prefer to slow down a bit rather than attempt to overtake when I don't have a really clear view. It only took an hour and a half to drive to Tewkesbury to Sam & Kate's. We had a very sociable evening, a nice meal followed by the film 'Outlander' accompanied by lots of silly comments. Great fun. This morning we stopped on Tewkesbury High Street so that I could take some pictures of the lovely Tudor half timbered houses that make this such a pretty town.

In the background is the Cathedral which dates back to the 11thC. Apart from the High Street most of the buildings in the old town are not quite as old brick built houses and of course there are vast areas of modern housing around the town. Even in just the last few years the field across the road from Sam & Kate's has changed from a riverside meadow - prone to flooding, to a new housing estate - flooding not mentioned by the developers. Peter was pronounced fit to drive at the clinic today and an hour and a half after leaving Bristol we were doing a bit of shopping in Barnstaple. Saw almost no signs of snow in all our driving, just a little on the hills and a few small drifts at home. I saw my first new lambs, in a field off the Link road.

All Gone.

Last night's torrential rain has cleared away the snow. I walked up the hill to collect the car and there were just a few remaining drifts along the hedgerows in the fields. It was generally quite misty and there was an interesting cloud of mist? rising from the snow at the top of the field. The garden is ringing with the sound of birds, twittering, cawing, whistling etc. Do they think it is spring?
Across the stream at the back of the house the first daffodil which was flowering on the 30th Dec has survived the cold weather. A quick walk around the garden revealed some celandine flowers and a grape hyacinth almost open. Off now to Bristol.

Bye-Bye Snow.

The snow has almost gone, even from our valley. Last night the whole road was covered in black ice and Peter had a very difficult walk down in the dark. Although the main part of the track is now clear the last section through our garden is still fairly snowy and icy. This morning I went out and cleared the shallow ditch that guides the water through our yard so that the melt water will go straight to the stream and not flood the area around the house.

My Micra can just be seen here nestled in a gateway at the top of the drive. I had to go to work this afternoon. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to don wellies and march to the top of the hill. Now that I am only teaching part-time I am not responsible for putting up displays etc and it seemed very strange to be almost following the children out at the end of the day. I was at the supermarket by 3.50 to do some shopping! On my way home I stopped at Bowden Corner to collect more post as the postman has not been able to get down into our valley yet. The post included a parcel from eBay for me, a very nice cashmere and cotton mix navy blue hooded jumper which I had bought quite cheaply. We are off to Bristol tomorrow for Peter to have his eyes lasered and my 6 month final check up. The forecast is for rain and warmer weather, good - because I'm fed up with worrying about driving on the ice.

Too Icy To Drive.

Last night's clear skies turned all that lovely slush into ice. There was no way I was going to attempt to drive on the ice so I rescheduled my physio appointment and Linas did the same for his Job Centre appointment. The jigsaw puzzle has been completed and is now back in its box waiting to be returned to the charity shop. Instead I have being doing more constructive work. I continued to catalogue my photo files which are currently stored in date order on the hard drive and on back-up pen drives. Being an old fashioned sort of person I prefer to flick through a real book rather than turn pages on the pc so I'm using a diary from last year to categorise the photos I took each day. At the same time I'm making a note of the best photos as I would like to make a photo book of 2009 with my favourite photos from each month. I also worked on my portfolio, sorting and labelling photos from my previous classes. That way, if I ever do go for a job interview I'll be able to show a little of the way I teach and organise my classes.
The sun has been shining so I went for a walk around the garden to check out the plants in the snow.

Even last year's dead leaves have their own calm beauty when outlined with frost.

The Thaw Continues.

A quick look at Metcheck last night got me worried again as it predicted actual temp -7C, luckily the cold front did not quite make it so far west and instead the gentle thaw continued so there was no extra ice to worry about.

Mid-day and it was very misty as I walked up the hill to the car. I managed to reach the heady speed of 5mph but slowed down after wobbling a bit on the ice. Once on the main road I felt as if I was positively flying at 30mph! People at school have no idea how different it is up here in the hills.

On the way home I drove through Muddiford which had lost all of its snow but up on the hill tops above the trees the fields were still white. Climbing up Whitefield Hill the snow started to reappear by halfway up with large drifts pushing through the gateways and by the top of the hill all the fields were white once more. Most of the back road is still icy with the ice and snow in the middle scraping at the underneath of my poor little car.

Since the snow first fell normal life has been suspended as I haven't felt motivated to start any big household jobs. Once the basic housework has been done and the hens fed I tell myself that marching up and down the hill is quite enough exercise and I spend my free time working on the jigsaw while keeping an eye on the local news or listening to the radio. Timetables have been sorted out at school and it looks as if I'll be teaching 3 afternoons plus one full day each week in 3 different classes. That way I'll be able to get things done at home as well.

Back To Work.

Our valley is looking slightly less snowy today. I managed to drive along the 1/2 mile of snowy/icy road to Indicott at an extremely sedate pace followed by Peter who went on to check the Shirwell route home. That is a definite no no as the hill by the Lewis' is very slippery and I would never be able to manage it. Once on Whitefield Hill the road was clear and I could see that green was returning to the hills to the south. This evening the local news is showing more snowfall in Cornwall and around Exeter. Hundreds of motorists are trapped on Holden Hill just south of Exeter. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will fall as rain up here. Now I am worrying that Peter will make it safely in to work tomorrow. I always seem to be worrying about something or other yet if I just chill everything does seem to work out.

Getting Warmer.

Despite the valley being blanketed by several inches of snow it is definitely warmer today. For the first time for a while the water in the hens' bowl was not frozen this morning. Metcheck gives us 1C today with 1-2C tomorrow and 3-4C on Wednesday. Maybe this is the end of the cold spell. I took the post over to Sarah's in the morning and the lake is still partially frozen over. The noisy little call duck was paddling around in our part of the stream this morning.
As Peter is still on holiday we decided to head back into town and see Avatar again as we enjoyed it so much the first time. Apart from some slush in the car park there was little snow in town and the main roads were also clear. Of course it is a different story once you get onto the back roads. If I can get my micra along the drive through the fresh snow that fell yesterday I may be able to drive myself to work tomorrow, if not Peter will drive me and I'll keep my fingers crossed for Wednesday.

I wonder how many more days we''ll be walking home down a snowy track ?