Winter Wonderland!

I have never seen the local landscape looking as beautiful as I did today. The fields, hedges, verges and trees were completely covered in a hard frost and against the blue sky, they looked gorgeous. Driving to work I wished so much I could stop and take photos, but it wasn't to be. The temperature had dropped overnight to around -9 to -10 degrees, the coldest I've ever seen in this part of the UK!

There was a slight delay in taking the inflatable to Hinckley as the van hire company we'd contacted yesterday let us down. I called another company and they had a transit they could hire us so I sped home, picked up Keith and we drove to Wellingborough to pick up our van. Back at work we waited for our neighbour to get back to his office so we could use him and his fork-lift truck to manoeuvre the bouncy castle into the back of the van, which was a hard process! We first had to clear some of the play area and then the fork -lift truck drove in, much to the delight of some little boys who watched round-eyed in wonder! Keith, my Dad and our neighbour somehow managed to manhandle it onto the bars of the fork-lift truck and then stuffed it into the back of the van!

Keith and I set off, ably helped by Gladys (mum and dad's SatNav) and we were in Hinckley by 1pm. The monstrosity was unloaded and then we headed back into the frozen landscape, gazing in awe at the beauty of the fields and woods. I loved driving the van - it was a bit larger than the people carrier we hired last year in Florida and I loved being up so high. It was extremely easy to drive and I handed the keys back with a touch of sadness. Back in my own car, I felt like I was about an inch off the road! A very strange feeling!

The temperatures rose slightly through the day but tonight looks like it's going to be another freezing cold evening. I did manage to take a photo of the trees in our car park this morning - nothing like I wanted to take, but better than nothing!

Freezing frosty fog!

Today has been freezing! All the trees and fields were coated in a thick layer of frost as I drove to work and again, I really wished I'd had the time to stop and take some photographs. It was beautiful. The cold clear weather gave way to a foggy afternoon and evening and the temperature dropped to -5. Brrr!

Keith had a hospital appointment today for his hip so I picked up both children and took them back to work. We didn't get around to much cleaning at all today but we did roll up one of the inflatables that has to go away for repair. We had planned on putting it in the back of Dad's Mondeo but there was no way it would fit so we've hired a van for tomorrow to take it up to Hinckley in Leicestershire and guess who's driving? Yes, me! Keith is coming with me so I just hope the weather improves a little tomorrow! I really don't want snow!

In the evening I was coerced into making some mulled wine which turned out to be delicious. I bought a sachet of spices on Saturday at Beckworth Emporium and added it to a bottle of French red and some sugar. After heating it gently I let all the wonderful flavours infuse for half an hour and then poured a glass. It was yum!

Christmas activities

Today has seen a slight rise in temperatures to 4 degrees which was positively balmy! It rained heavily last night so most of the snow has gone but we've had brilliant sunshine for most of the day which is lovely but it does make it hazardous for driving!

I managed to pick up Sophie's camera today from Tesco Direct and I also bought some wine with our Clubcard vouchers. Tesco have some great deals on at the moment and by carefully choosing wines on offer I managed to get eight lovely reds and two bottles of Keith's beer for just over £48! I'm in love with the Redwood Creek Merlot at the moment and as we opened our last bottle with dinner last night, I bought three of those, three bottles of Wolf Blass Cabernet Sauvignon and a bottle each of the Turning Leaf Pinot Noir and Cab. Sauv which were two for £10.

The afternoon was spent decorating our little tree in front of the house with some fairy lights and writing out Christmas cards with a glass of whisky mac to soothe the way!

Village affairs

Our phone line still hasn’t been fixed so at the moment I’m using a Vodafone dongle to get online, but it’s very unreliable and extremely slow! It's driving me MAD!!! Roll on Monday when it should be back to normal. The excuse I was given when I called BT was that the engineers were unable to work because of the weather. How did I know I was going to hear that?

First thing this morning we went out for breakfast. I was awake at 6am and suggested to Keith we go out for something to eat, a decision not influenced in any way by Twin Peaks where they are all coffee freaks! Funnily enough Sophie and I watched an episode before we went out and two of the characters were enjoying pancakes, muffins and “damn fine coffee”!

We really should have gone to Buddies but we went to a local Little Chef instead and had a very good breakfast. Keith was delighted to find kippers on the menu as things have certainly changed since Heston Blumenthal took charge! Everything had a posh name and was organically farmed with prices to match but the children raved about their sausage sandwiches and the food was very good and well cooked. Oh, and the coffee was great as well!

After breakfast we drove to work where I picked up the dongle and checked various important things on the internet, such as the National Lottery, and no…we didn’t win anything although we did win £100 on the Premium Bonds so that will come in handy this month with all the repairs we need doing!

In the afternoon we walked to the village to meet mum and to go to the opening of our new village hall. It was a huge improvement on the old one which resembled a Nissen hut and the great and good were wandering around, sipping Cava and eating a lovely buffet. The children managed to stuff their faces before we left for the next event, the school bazaar, which was absolute bedlam. Michael bought about eight jam jars filled with sweets and won a photo calendar on the tombola. Needless to say I didn’t win anything!

We dropped mum back off at home before Soph and I went to Beckworth Emporium. It was heaving with people and the car park was full, probably because of the ice skating rink which was doing a great job of attracting people in the lead-up to Christmas. Sophie and I wandered around their food hall, amazed at the amount of things for sale and having a good look at what others were buying, some of it complete tat!

I was persuaded to buy some gorgeous bread, a tray of mince pies and some chocolate before we left and headed home in the dusk drizzle. It’s been marginally milder today and at one point we reached the dizzy heights of 3 degrees!

Back home we put up the Christmas tree, this year in the conservatory. Its normal home in the window prevents me from watching the TV in my normal spot on the sofa and we can’t draw the curtains and be cosy, so I suggested putting it in the conservatory where there’s more room. The children went to town with the decorating and by the time night had fallen the house was ablaze with lights!

Another bitterly cold day...

I'm not sure I'll be able to write this at home tonight so here it is, now. It's been a busy day at work, catching up on things that needed doing and I was pleased I was able to get so much done. It's been another very, very cold day with horrible grey cloud that threatened snow but didn't deliver.

I am so looking forward to getting home tonight and maybe having a hot bath, but this week, things haven't quite turned out as expected, so I'm not getting my hopes up, just in case!

Thursday 2 December

I was off from work today and acting as taxi driver as Keith was supposed to be meeting some ex-work colleagues for his bi-annual drink in Northampton. However when the snow arrived it was postponed as one of his mates lives down in Slough and he didn't fancy getting stuck in Northampton!

It snowed until about 10am and then the sun came out, much to the disgust of Sophie who had been on the verge of being sent home from school if it continued for another hour! Keith and I pottered about the house doing some jobs then we drove into work so we could use the internet for ten minutes. Our phone line is still down so therefore no internet at home which is now very annoying. On the way back home we called into the pub for an hour for a drink and a sandwich and it was pleasantly busy which made for a lovely atmosphere on a cold and chilly December day!

Keith and I both went to pick up the wee ones from school and listened to the news about our World Cup bid. We were both very disappointed and angry when it went to Russia and horrified to learn that England only had two votes. Some foul play there, I think.

Back home we drew the curtains on a very cold day and snuggled up in front of the television!

The last month...

So, this is it...December already and almost a year of keeping up with this blog which I have enjoyed so much. I fully intend to carry on next year...and all the years after that, hopefully!

The weather continues to be very cold with snow almost everywhere except here, which has not pleased the children who yearn for a "Snow Day"! Last night we went to see another Clairvoyant in Kettering who was supposed to be very good, but the word "Charlatan" came to mind almost immediately. I went with mum and dad who were equally unimpressed! He was very vague and said things that could have fit almost anybody. Sadly, there were a lot of women there who were very emotional and I felt quite uncomfortable as I was sure he was not genuine, despite accolades from the media (Jane MacDonald in particular) and having written three books. If I ever decide to see another medium in the future I will stick to a one-to-one session from a registered list, as I did before.

Our phone line at home is now completely dead, but I did get a text from BT to say they aim to have it fixed before Saturday, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. My car is now fixed and at a reasonable cost as well, not the hundreds and hundreds I was dreading!