In the dark woods...

Getting to work and school this morning was no fun as we had to make a long diversion to avoid the closed road. The traffic was horrendous and I do wonder what's going to happen in the future with all the cars on the road. Most of the cars we saw had only one occupant and perhaps the Government will introduce some sort of tax for people travelling alone?

It's been a beautiful day today with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine so after work Keith and I went for a walk in the Nature Reserve to get some more holly for my mantelpiece.

The sun had already set and the sky was a mix of peachy oranges, golds and blues. The trees outlined against the sky looked beautiful.

It was very cold but I didn't mind - dry and sunny weather in winter means cold but I would rather it be clear and cold than grey and murky! We walked down to the Nature Reserve and within minutes I saw a little Muntjac deer, its little white tail bobbing as it ran away from us!

By now it was getting dark and the woods appeared deep and mysterious. As we walked the birds who had been settling down for the night in the trees, started flapping in panic when we approached which in turn set off the pheasants who flew up in alarm and clattered over the fields. squawking madly!

We collected a few more bits of holly and then walked on until the we could leave the Nature Reserve and regain the path up to the village. It was really quite eerie and the gnarled branches of the trees made weird shapes. I did wonder how many little creatures were watching us as we walked through the woods!

By the time we got to the village it was properly dark and when we got home Keith tried to get the heating to work but gave up. We put the fire on in the living room and the heaters in the conservatory but that was the sum total of our heating in the house. Brrr! Our boiler has really stopped working now and as we won't get it fixed until Monday it looks like we're going to have a cold weekend!