Catching up with family and friends. Christmas prep. The first snowdrop. Garage refurb almost complete….
(But essentially still getting back on top of things after a month in Nepal and a long weekend in London.)
Back to the gym on Tuesday for Functional Playground and PT. Lovely sunny day. Brought in some wood to make the most of the dry spell. Spent the afternoon on life admin (still catching up from a month and a long weekend away), had a quick catch up with Val, sorted out our Festive Season plans with dad and Jean, wrote the Christmas cards and put up some tinsel and decorations just in time for TJL’s arrival for early dinner. A lovely evening of food, felt animals, wine, port and whiskey…. although frantic dinner prep meant that I missed the final KMC catch up call of the year.
Getting up early for gym class on Wednesday meant I saw the strip of sunrise lining the horizon through the trees as it slowly changed from pale gold to pink. Beautiful.
The rest of the day was cloudy, cold and damp. Callisthenics then straight to AGV for Phil to get the train to London / Essex leaving me to pick up the giant water butt that’s going to be fed from the garage’s new gutters, to buy some more Christmas cards so that I could finish writing the “Christmas cards that need posting” with a motivational coffee and Bread & Bean, and to do some food shopping. Late lunch back home, then email admin and LED Facebook posts before adjourning to the lounge for a bit of reading with Pippa for company, then tea and telly.
Still gloomy weather on Thursday. Shuffled the cars, topped up the birds’ peanuts, put out some meal worms, sat with Pippa.
B & R arrived with M the electrician who’s putting in sockets (LOTS) and overhead lighting in the garage.
Very glad they were all here as when it was time to head off to the gym as the Kia wouldn’t start. I’d moved it from the main drive onto the one in front of the kitchen first thing, and apparently it’s a known issue that v short drives like that can cause the 12V battery that powers the electronics (as opposed to the motor) to drain. Handily, B had jump leads in the van and we were able to jump start the Kia off the Panda. So I made it to PT at least.
Drove home the long way round to give the Kia chance to recharge (assuming that’s A Thing). Busy afternoon of admin culminating in the last LED Trustee call of the year.
By the end of the daylight, B, R & M had pretty much finished the inside of the garage, and moved the fridge freezer and log store back into position, and swept the sawdust off the garage floor. We’ve now got three LED strip lights, 9 double plug sockets and a box enclosing the solar panel convertor.
In the new year we’ll sort out a workbench and pegboard(s) for the far corner, and hooks etc for the garden tools, and probably some shelving too – for bird food and jam jars.
A clear night Thursday – I could see the stars – and a clear-ish, dry-ish, sunny-ish day on Friday. To the gym for aerobics and back to find B&R making speedy progress cladding the outside of the garage, making the most of the good weather. We need the gas plumber to come and disconnect / reconnect the LPG-Boiler gas supply pipe to do the top tier of planks – and there’s the brick lined, gravel path around the back of the garage and along the west wall to the patio to do too.
The sunny-ish, dry-ish day spurred me to put on some washing and to give my sleeping bag and purple down jacket a good airing outside. I also raked the golden delicious windfalls into the hedge in the orchard and moved the ivy etc cuttings I’d cleared from the lone damson tree at the bottom of the front lawn back in late October / early November round to the Quarry… finding the hedge cuttings already in a good size pile for bonfiring. Brought back some of the holly and mistletoe to the house for more festive decorations.
Busy day on Saturday, mostly in the morning. Decided it was a good time to defrost the outside fridge freezer (which took An AGE), and to wash the bedding. But first up I washed Pippa’s bowls and food mat and poo pot and cat litter tray and used cat litter bin. I also chucked the fridge’s collection on bad apples – they’re now in the outside compost bin.
After lunch, Dad and Jean arrived for tea and mince pies en route to carols in Dore Abbey, which is when I realised how shattered I was. Still managed to find time to look at Haute Route options for 2026 though. Irritatingly, JG’s looks like the best of the available options.
Pippa helped to remake the bed.
Sunday had been pencilled in for a walk with JP, J&C, but yesterday’s busyness had prompted me to bail out of the walk, which ended up suiting everyone as it was back to low cloud and damp on the weather front.
Spent the day getting more things done around the house – putting away the last of the Nepal trek stuff (now cleaner / aired), working out the Christmas food shopping list, writing the rest of the Christmas cards (mostly local), looking at dates for my next block of PT, prepping apple crumble and making curry for dinner. We had a lovely evening, nice and snug with the log stove going. Even Pippa approved!
Another damp day with grey skies on Monday. More prep / admin – picked up the turkey etc from Neil Powell’s, bought heavy duty brush draught excluders for the garage door (top and bottom). B&R started work on the path round the back of the house – all dug out by the end of their day.
In the meantime I’d ticked off a few more To Dos, including a belated “I’m Back!” blogpost for Nepal.
Early evening I drove over to AGV to do the Christmas food shop at Waitrose and an Aldi top up, and on to the station to collect Phil and Sue off the trains from Essex via Berkshire. Late tea on laps in the lounge with the log stove it. All shattered.
Filling up the bird feeder on Thursday I crunched on bulb shoots beneath the pear tree’s bird feeder (daffodils) and down by the small pond hedge (snowdrops). By Friday the shoots in the sunny patches by the pear tree were an inch or so high. The bulbs are coming through in the planters too.
I think I can see a hint of pink on the camellia too.
And on Monday afternoon I spotted the white tip of a snowdrop beneath the crab apple tree….
Audio: History Extra, Americast, Newscast, The Rest is Entertainment, Gone Mediaeval, When It Hits the Fan, Anglo-Saxon England,
Video: The War Between the Land and the Sea (managed two episodes then gave up), Lost Boys and Fairies (lovely).
Photos: Herefordshire week 312 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2025-12-21.
