Dry.

We're having a brief respite from the stormy weather but more storms due tomorrow. Apparently it's all linked to the storms over the east coast of North America.

We reconnected everything this morning but our internet is running at the speed of an arthritic snail, 0.1 Mb to be precise. I couldn't get online at all this morning so suddenly there was no communication with our widespread family, no chance to prepare stuff for work and no relaxing puzzles listening to my current favourite pieces of music. Instead I had a good long session picking up leaves and moss in the scree garden and then I'll finish the day with more ironing of duvet covers. The postman brought me a large parcel from Romas, more goodies - mmmm. I'll be back on my diet next week but for now I'm indulging.

Severe Storms.

Yesterday's weather map looked scary with flood warnings for the whole of the west coast of the UK from Scotland right down and around Cornwall with quite a few severe (lives at risk) warnings. The wind raged all night and at around 6.00 there was a massive crash of thunder overhead and the electricity went off. It came back on, then went off again for a while. I leapt out of bed to unplug the hub, pcs and tvs. Later we found that the house phone had got fried by the electrical surge. Luckily we have a spare. And the rayburn was there to boil a kettle for an early coffee.

Peter went into town later and heard from someone that the thunder caused chaos with the horses over at the stables. I saw that they had the generator going but even if I had gone over I don't think I would have been of any help as I don't know the horses and they don't know me. I'm just hoping that the report of damage was exaggerated as that could only mean that the horses injured themselves in their panic.

We had frequent heavy showers (and some thunder & lightning) with strong winds blowing all the time. We've kept the internet unplugged for most of the day so I've been able to catch up with washing and ironing of sheets. Later I wrapped up and went up to work in the scree garden.

When it rained I went under the shelter and got on with hacking off the terrible textured artex on the wall. I couldn't finish during the summer as the swallows nest in the room behind and I didn't think they would appreciate the banging. I was sensible today and wore a dust mask and safety goggles. The only problem is that the goggles keep misting up.

We had one more power cut during a storm this afternoon so we've been keeping an eye on the news and weather forecasts. It looks as if the next storm due on Sunday will not be quite so bad. North Devon has been the worst affected area of the country this time with flooding in most of the coastal villages. Pilton Park was completely under water, the Square was flooded and there was more flooding along the rivers.

Mild.

The house is quiet once more as our friends left this morning. We now have a few days to relax before getting back into work mode. It has been great to have company but we are not used to such late nights.

The weather has stayed mostly dry today so after Sam & Kate left I was able to get another section of the scree garden cleared. We had some very heavy rain yesterday evening and more is forecast for the next few days including severe flood warnings. Luckily it is quite mild so there shouldn't be any risk of ice.

Grey and Wet.

After staying up late last night none of us got up too early today. Sam and Kate took Milo out for a walk and got back before the rain came down heavily but apart from that we have all been 'relaxing'. The biggest event of the day has been Squeaky scratching Milo on the nose. Patch and Speedy spend most of their time being put outside due to the fact that those 2 greedy cats cannot help jumping up on the forbidden kitchen counters to see if there is any food they can steal.

I had a look to see if I could find any pictures from last night's festivities in town only to find that due to a lack of sponsorship the usual free concert in the Square had been cancelled so there would only have been the fireworks display. 

Dry.

I made sure I was up at a reasonable hour this morning so that I could say good-bye to Alex who was catching the train down to Plymouth. While Sam and Kate drove her to the station I whizzed around with the hoover and did some tidying up. It was a sunny day so I was also able to spend some time picking up leaves and moss (surprise, surprise), from the scree garden.

Later we took advantage of the sunny day and went for a walk. Milo is quite elderly and hadn't realised that no one was holding his lead. 

We walked to Bowden Corner and down to Rookbear Lane to take advantage of the hazy views out to sea. 

We shall be having a quiet evening in, no gallivanting around Barnstaple watching the fireworks with crowds of merrymakers in fancy dress welcoming in the New Year. Maybe next year.

Mild.

Vytas rang us today to tell us that he proposed to Sally while they were hiking up a mountain and now they are officially engaged. That's a good end to the year. 

After the excitement of us all shouting our congratulations at the pc things settled into the usual holiday mode. Sam painting figures, Kate reading and Alex buried in her lap top. I made a start on planning the history I shall be doing with my Year 2's next term (kings and queens and other famous people) and Peter was sorting out his pc and shooting the opposition at the same time.  

We had some rain in the morning but when I did finally get outside it felt quite mild. Sam took Milo out for a walk but the rest of us stayed indoors. 

Cold.

As we head into deepest winter it seems colder each morning with more hail hiding in the hollows and a proper frost on the grass. As we have friends coming to stay my day was spent in a final tidy up. Now everything is ready, Peter is putting the final touches to the dinner, cottage pie and vegetables (I did all the veg) and the big teapot is out once more. It has been dry all day but the forecast is for rainy weather for the next few days. So we'll all have to wrap up if we want to go for some walks. Peter was out rowing again this afternoon but then there's no more rowing for a while as the tides and lack of light do restrict rowing during the winter.