Come home to a real fire

Our house is getting older. Some years ago the fire in the livingroom stopped working.
It should be a simple fix: find a qualified tradesman and pay for the fix.

Fast forward to 2018 and we set out on a mission to get this fixed. We bumped over about 1000 speedbumps in Throsk to find a shop that sold woodburners. That wasn't what we wanted.

After some other stops we ended up in Kincardine.

And bought a fire.

The fall and rise of Tintin

Everyone talks about the bad winter of 1963 - and for the past few days we have had some tricky snow to deal with too.  
This has mainly involved working from home, and not going out far.  No great difficulties and no real problems.   

But Tintin went out into the Garden on Wednesday, and had a few snow days...

 

This week's shoes

One of the things I like about this blog is not that lots of people are out there hanging on my every poignant word or pithy comment, but more that I can use this to jog my memory to dates and events.

When did we go to Sweden? (2014)  Where were we for Christmas in 2011? 

And so this week has been a little out of the ordinary, as Scotland had its first "Red" weather warning, and the Siberian weather arrived with a flourish.  
Cold winters recently have been missing unless you head off to Canada (-36C around Christmas 2017). The winter of 2010 had a cold fortnight where I remember -18C measured in "Fiona" 

But this week has been warmer, but much much snowier!

And so to this week's shoes:

Left to right....
My boots - normally used for grass cutting and other gardening duties, but used this week to get out to clear the driveway.

My walking boots - normally used for light hill-walking duties but used for all trips out and about this week.

Mrs C's wellies - rarely worn, but absolutely perfect for chocking the wheel of a caravan. The steel toe-cap is ideal for this.

Child 1's walking boots - not taken to university, so worn here by Mrs C on her daily sojourn to check on the progress of the roads and the drifts.

Finally, my good white trainers - normally ideal for summer holidays, but this week, worn by Mrs C for all trips to the garden to check on the progress of Tintin.

School's out for snow

O yes - Mrs C is happy. No more school until Monday.

We love the bird man.

The drifts were three feet deep here. In a week, we will have forgotten.

Half term catch up

After a couple of days back in the office, (but I dont talk about it so don't ask), we had a free Saturday to play catch-up-with-the-kids.

So we left at 8:30, and again at 8:40 once I had remembered all the things I actually needed (sorry Mrs C) we headed to M and S to get the basics for a pic-nic, and fully flasked up, we then headed north to meet up with one of the wage-sappers.

After a coffee stop, visiting a friend, we collected the child, and headed out of the city, looking for the coast.

We found a great place for a lunch stop - coffee and sandwiches, plus lemon and white-chocolate cakes.
A blustery walk followed, along the cliff-top and through the local village, then back to the car.

We had time for a quick trip back into the granite city, and run round Tesco's for some heavy shopping, then we were off, heading south again.

6 pm was the deadline for meeting the elder wage-sapper, and we were on time.
Nearly late due to the fact that Dundee have moved the roads since I last tried to leave by the bridge.  Apologies to the people behind as I made an exciting late lane change onto the bridge ramp.

And so on for Pizza. 

 
Slight issue on my visit to the toilets.  Who has the "plus", and who has the "arrow"?

This is my door.

So with child 1 now fed, we headed home, energised enough to watch 30 minutes of TV before falling asleep on the couch.  

It had been a great day out.

F-F-F-F-Freezing in February

Half term has arrived, and after a quiet Saturday at home doing the domestics, we headed south into England, for a few days in the North East. The weather predictions were for breezy chilly days, and they were exactly right.

Monday morning dawned beautifully, and we had a great day in and around Durham.

Sun into the late afternoon too!  Just no heat in it at all.

So we went off to the Botanics, and enjoyed a long time in the hot houses!

Beer anyone?

It was an inspired child who returned from Canada with a great present for me:

Not all of them have been recycled by now.

Merry Christmas?

When I was working in the USA, a lifetime ago, we used to drink Canadian beer.

Now I have been given my own collection of beer mats, thanks to the generosity of no 2 child.