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dish-carving-router-bit-jump We seem to have got through 14 pints of milk, a kilo of sugar, quite a lot of coffee, and the better part of a large packet of tea bags in the past week. The roads get busier on every trip, despite 37 occurrences of 'stay home, save lives' on the overhead gantry sish. Aired duvet and line-fresh sheets I've noticed that inkjet cartridges have nearly doubled in price, which can only be profiteering. The large bookcase is apparently still going to be another 3 dish carving router bit jump.

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I'm not sure what animal makes tracks like these? It's not quite rabbit or hare as I know them? Another view of the snowy sunshine: On a rare snow-free day last week, as well as taking out the final overgrown boundary hedge leylandii from between the house and the new greenhouse, Mr BW chainsawed the 6 foot wide hedge that divides the garden into two on the extreme RHS of the picture down to half its previous height. It was previously a secondary wind-break, but 4m of solid glass and aluminium greenhouse guaranteed for 30 years now deflects the prevailing south-westerly wind upwards, and keeps it out of the garden, whereas previously the same height of leylandii just filtered it, making the second wind-break hedge essential.

The nasty metal arch in the centre is rusted through, and the hedge blocked the view, and too much light. Also, half of it is leylandii, so impossible to cut back hard. All the hedge is going, eventually but we weren't quite brave enough to do it all at once , and we will replace it with an artistic wood and metal see-through structure that will have climbing flowers, roses and euonymus growing up one side, and vegetables up the other beans, squashes etc.

We saw a fantastic semi-transparent thin 'hedge' made from vertically trained euonymous 'emerald gaiety' at an open gardens a couple of years ago, and I always knew that one day I would be recreating it somewhere. Now, all I need to do is manage to get down south to take about a hundred cuttings from the euonymous EG that grows up the kitchen wall at Coven Sud.

It's a great nectar plant too. Today is the first day this year that I have been able to dry washing outside and I'll hang washing outside at any opportunity! The washing froze within ten minutes of being pegged out before drying off nicely in the easterly breeze. Aired duvet and line-fresh sheets As the sun set at Don't look at the mess in the vegetable garden and around the greenhouse. Currently covered with old carpet and old underlay, and adorned with old shower trays, old windows, and old shower doors, it's a work in progress, and will be for another year or two yet.

There's a lot to do, and we're not in a hurry to do it, as we want to get it right first time. Experience of making the garden down south tells us that it's best to wait until inspiration strikes, and we are totally sure, before starting anything.

But, we do now have an architect the one we wanted, who stopped being "stressed" and produced an excellent written initial understanding of our requirements - with no spelling mistakes, no grammatical mistakes, and only one missing closing bracket , and we are assured that plans will be drawn up and submitted by the end of March, and that what we want to do will not be 'contentious'.

Time will tell I'm currently fascinated by the way populations are - largely - going along with what their 'governments' are telling them to do, without question, or challenge. I've found an interesting research-based article on " Narcissistic leaders: even children fall for their superficial charms ". Particularly at present, the world is driven by very toxic leaders working within structures which encourage narcissistic behaviour culturally and also at the individual level.

Most schools, companies, organisations and governments are tall structures, with hierarchical power and oppressive cultures. The reign of control and fear encourages 'followership' and discourages critical thinking. While this keeps people in line, this control and power also kills off creativity, equality, diversity, other perspectives and the ability of people to think for themselves.

We currently live in a world that only gives value to leadership, and does not the value all the other necessary roles within groups that enable them to function. Belbin 's work on this subject is probably the best known, but although management courses teach this stuff , schools do not. Probably because the majority and certainly all those public schools who seem to have provided most of the country's 'leaders' in recent years , rely on autocratic, didactic, top-down modes of delivery of learning and control.

Within our education system, children are taught indoctrinated from an early age that their aim is to be the best, and this is demonstrated by being the 'captain' or 'top' of every group or activity undertaken.

Within most workplaces, the best paid roles are those of 'leadership' that carry with them intrinsic 'control', whereas the most important and vital roles are those that are the worst paid and least respected. How much more than a cleaner is the CEO of a hospital trust paid? Which of these could the system currently manage without? While social media 'group think' currently prevails in most people's lives, there is no hope that the world will change, because anyone who thinks differently, or speaks out, is made to feel an outsider, by group process and ostracisation.

People who think differently are the answer to the world's problems, not the cause of them, but social structures work against them. Within organisations, including governments, people tend to rise to their level of incompetence. Never has that been so clearly demonstrated, both in the UK and the US, as during these current health and economic crises. I don't see any way of things changing without explicit education, starting at school, about roles and leadership, and a more level reward structure including social and perceived status as well as purely financial issues.

Unless and until people wise up to the lies they are currently being fed by 'governments', supported by 'experts', the world will not change. This image epitomises the week we've had. I've called this wall Alan, because it has measles. If you don't understand that, I suspect you won't be watching the second series of this. Mr BW has been taking a spur off a socket that he'd already replaced, before the insulating plasterboard was added to the wall, positioning it where it won't be covered by The Big Bookcase, which we were previously assured was being made the week before last.

It won't work to leave a phone message saying, "The carpenter has just been checking and your measurements don't add up, you're 10cm short of your desired height, can you give us a ring so he can get started?

In the absence of anything major that can be done, this week I've got back to spinning fleece into rustic yarn to make more dining room chair cushion covers.

I'd run out of yarn, so production had stalled for a few months, as I hadn't been in the mood for spinning I'm gettting a bit fed up with Borrowers in this house. So far they've had the wooden juicer, the wooden stirrer, countless pairs of scissors, my white dressing gown cord which reappeared in the washing machine wrapped round a dark wash and tied with a neat knot , several of Mr BW's tools, and lots of other things that my memory isn't sharp enough to recall.

Snow hits the south and the national news is full of it. It's strange, but the south-centric-ness of media reporting is often mentioned, dismissed by those in the south once us and noticed with amusement by those in the north now us.

Here is some interesting info on the logistics of gritting roads. I was looking it up after Scoakat was showing his snow lawnmower , and talking about it being environmentally unfriendly for salt, and also too cold where he is in the US for salt to work to melt snow and ice on the roads.

I don't think we need worry about it getting that cold over here though. Everything we desire can be commanded and delivered, even if we're currently running on 2 Morrison's and 1 Amazon delivery drivers needing to be pushed out of the drive and back onto the track. We're scared that if we leave them stranded, they will refuse to come back. The postie, arriving at the wrong time or the right time, depending on your point of view helped with pushing out the latter.

He's never got stuck, but he has the sense to spot a slope and avoid it. He's been doing this round for over 20 years, so I guess he's had practice. If it snows, we stay put. But, I did research snow blowers, and decided to get this, not least for the amusement value of the description, or the fact that pieces will give Mr BW something to do for an hour or two, before we try it out:. This week, we have continued the pattern that began on 24th December of 2 or 3 days of snow, then 1 or 2 days without.

And also the pattern of being messed about by architects and not-architects. If these people say they will be in touch, "At the beginning of next week, definitely by Tuesday! If they don't want the job, then why not say so, or send an email saying so?

It's not as if one has to actually speak to people to get rid of them these days. Or, if they are delayed, just a 2-line email, "So sorry not to have got back to you yet, I haven't fogotten and will be in touch by x-day. I sent them to. And so it starts again with another potential candidate next week Even the 'measuring and topographical service' architects round here don't do their own measuring these days, which horrified my architect friend down south when I told her who measured and theodolited on Monday, didn't manage to produce the resulting plan on Thursday as promised: it finally arrived at 4pm on Friday and then failed to provide the whole roof, as requested and checked on before the surveyor left on Monday afternoon.

Needless to say, they were quick enough to produce their invoice This is our next project: And here through glass, so not too sharp is my nuthatch We're lacking direction as we are having problem sourcing appropriate professionals, my new keyboard is too clicky, and I'm having problems with my tits.

Nevertheless, we managed to submit will submit this as soon as they put some more coins in their website meter to the RSPB birdwatch :. But they can't count. Well, they might be able to, for all I know, but as they can't talk, they can't tell me what sort they are. Did anyone else do Birdwatch? Not bad for an hour of observation. We did wait until the long-tailed tit clan arrived before starting counting though. I think there are actually rather more tits around than that, but you have to count the maximum number that are present at any one time.

What the hell happened to Johnnie Walker's Sounds of the 70s yesterday? Roger Daltrey doing a jolly good impression of continuing the Elaine Paige show that precedes it that I avoid like the plague as I don't like her inane chatter, or 'music from shows'.

I think that is the first complaint I have ever made to the BBC. I live in dread of the day JW pegs it or retires and someone else takes over. Let's hope there will be lots of old editions preserved on Sounds.

Mr BW was bored this week. In the absence of knowing how we are going to develop Coven Nord there are several possibilities and, without knowing enough about what County Planning will allow us to do in this area there is nothing much else we can do currently do until we submit a planning application.

So, after he'd cleaned, repainted and made some more shelves for the airing cupboard, he went back to chopping down the remaining leylandii, and then cutting them up. It was August bank holiday weekend when Mr BW did the rest of the row along the western boundary, to make way for the big greenhouse. We had kept the few outliers as wind protection against the frequent 60 or 70mph south-westerlies, at least for a while, until we were surer about exactly what we are doing around that area, but as they block the low winter sun from warming the greenhouse, and cast long shadows over the vegetable garden, they had to go.

There is nothing good about them, and if we left removing them for much longer, we'd risk running into the nesting season.

Before: During: After: A reclaimed view There is still half of the two giant leylandii on the southern boundary to take down, but that's a job for later in the week. After months of searching, I think we finally managed to find an architect or whatever the ones who aren't architects but do the same sort of thing are called we could work with last week.

At the beginning of last week, in desperation of ever finding anyone, and having not been impressed on several occasions with people who'd come round or we'd spoken to by telephone, or with the RIBA website's lack of local suggestions, I started looking through the applications on the local council's Planning website to see who local people had used recently.

I found an application from a local lady we know, and Mr BW rang her, to be told to avoid the firm she'd used for that application, but to approach another person who she was currently using. He came out to see us on Friday. Fingers crossed that he takes the job and then comes up with some good ideas. The large bookcase is apparently still going to be another 3 weeks. We were quoted "6 - 8 weeks". If it arrives in 3 weeks, it will then be 14 weeks. Silly me, I hadn't realised that one had to add 6 to 8 to get the delivery time, rather than expect it between week 6 and week 8.

We've had snow on many more days than we've not had snow since Christmas Eve. I'm bored with snow now. I'm not made for this weather.

The church newsletter one side of A4, folded, delivered by the postie on the first of every month, I suspect without the knowledge or blessing of his employer, because that's how things work round here says, "It is decades since we had such a long spell of cold, snowy, wintery weather.

First the hottest summer, now the coldest winter. We've not been in this country at this time of year for the past 8 years. Is it worse than normal? We were going to go south next week, but the weather forecast looks like it will be too cold to open the bees even briefly to put the pollen food on them, so I think we'll probably leave it another week.

The Amazon driver yesterday was a Chinese man. Very unusual. The track is very icy and he was sensible enough not to pull into the drive, which slopes downwards. I wan't sure about that. Anyone know where I can get a keyboard that isn't 'clicky'? My last one is lovely and silent, and very ergonomic, being an inch higher at the back than the front, but sadly won't work, even with an adaptor, with the new tower.

There is no need for keyboards to click. I can't be the only one who touch types and finds it insanely annoying. The black familiar has taken up skiing down the porch roof, and then surprising herself when the slope suddenly ends 10 feet up: She's into minus lives now, but she doesn't seem to care:. And, 10 months on, we have finally seen the deer. The herd in the fields behind Coven Sud has now got to odd, and, although we'd been told there were some around here, we hadn't seen them, and had assumed the Henries had shot the lot.

Now we have everything we'd miss from Coven Sud. Give or take some insulation Mr BW thinks his creation is cute. I think it's spooky and menacing. What do you think? The Spooky Snowman has lost his eyes, nose, and mouth. As they were pieces of coal, Mr BW has to go and retrieve them from the field tomorrow. Fossil fuels are precious. Mr BW saw a neighbour who lives well over half a mile away out walking in the distance.

Said neighbour made a detour to take a better view of SS. Have been watching presentations on a renovating and rebuilding online show today, so haven't yet got to the computer to allow you to share these nightmares too. Coven Sud now has snow too. It's possible that my spells might be going just a teensy bit awry.

I'm waiting to see if SS's brother appears peeping over the hedge down south. Gotta love Melania's swansong. I wonder if she even saw the script? Surprisingly, in searching out the link, I've discovered that this was originally aired in October , although it seemed oh so contemporary. This time the three-part series is wandering from coast to coast, and not that many miles south of Coven Nord.

In fact, had it not been filmed in a time of fog, if he'd looked up and in the right direction, he'd have seen us in the distance up on our ridge. It could have been so much better It also confirmed that, as we suspected, our house is likely made of pillaged stones. That's the house with The Spooky Snowman staring over the hedge. He has those swivelling coal-black eyes that follow you, no matter which room you look out of. I think he may be related to The Bales.

The temperature has been hovering around zero for the past 2 days, and the snow is now crispier than I thought possible, so I expect Spooky Features is frozen through and consequently likely to be around for a couple of weeks yet. My nice antique monitor is now joined to my shiny new-ish PC the adaptor having finally arrived , but I'm not allowed to use it as highly technical re-backups are apparently happening.

Something about 18, items to go, last time I looked Unless he gets me in the night. After 3 days without snow, there was another 4" overnight, and more fell during the day, requiring an emergency clearing of the big greenhouse's front roof with the big broom 24" brooms are brilliant and I have no idea how we have managed without one until recently as it was getting dark, so that it didn't fall on the cold frame covers and break them.

The weekly grocery delivery got through though it needed salt, grit, and pushing, to get him out again, for the second week in a row, he's a very slow learner , the post got through "How are the roads? I wish I didn't know so many informed people, people currently on the front line, or people just one step removed from first-hand information, because they are confirming my worst suspicions about the current pandemic on so many levels. I'm glad that I don't engage in social media, because first-hand trusted sources remove any possibility of bias or exaggeration.

As one of my Patchy Ladies said to me yesterday, I should be happy that one of my biggest previously expressed gripes about hygiene has been addressed by the current pandemic: never again will peope be allowed to take their germ-ridden 'reusable cups' to be refilled in beverage shops. I laughed. Another Coven Nord drama: the top kitchen cupboards are now several inches off the wall at the top back. The heavy glasses, cooking dishes, and plates that were in them have now been swopped for light plastics and tea bags.

Is there anything that was done properly in this house? While the kitchen does need replacing, it wasn't top of the priority list. Until now. Light wood units are not trendy currently, so it is difficult to know how to proceed, and we are constrained by not wanting to change the current ceramic tiled flooring, so having to keep the current peninsular layout.

Today is the first day for 15 days that we haven't had snow, snow on snow and eventually snow on ice. Only 2 days without snow since Christmas Eve. Under the snow blanket my parsley has re-grown to three inches! Covid cases continue to rise some interesting info towards the end of that article , but the government's mixed messaging continues: stay local unless you're the PM, in which case it's fine for you and your security to cycle 7 miles to the Olympic Park , don't meet in large groups, but do go to one of 7 new huge mass vaccination centres , and queue up in the cold in an airport-style snake queue, then sit in a room with lots of others some of whom will be covid-positive, but showing no symptoms breathing the same air for about half an hour.

Excellent idea. At least the non-healthcare professionals fast-trained to brandish needles must have at least 2 A Levels , and have undertaken training in preventing radicalisation. How very reassuring. Ah, and let's not forget that the vaccinators are not being tested every day as would seem sensible.

Why oh why are ' wash your mask daily ' and ' do not re-use disposable masks ' not being pushed? Double masking seems a good plan to me. And as for 'acting as if you have coronavirus': I've been acting as if everyone has coronavirus since last March.

What are other countries doing about prioritising groups to vaccinate? Are all vaccinations free in countries such as the US that have paid healthcare provisions? In such countries, are those who can pay jumping the queue? Interesting article about generation 1 vaccines and the generation 2 vaccines currently under development and test here. Current EHICs continue to be valid until they expire but if yours has expired, you can apply for a new GHIC here , also, despite previous scaremongering you do not now need an International Driving Permit to drive in Europe.

Having now declared Coven Nord a workman free zone henceforward, in between fitting and painting a new door frame, skirting boards and architrave, putting up coving, and preparing to build a new base for the new oil tank, the amazing Mr BW has somehow made my new desktop PC seem like my old desktop PC did when it was new in , including getting almost all the software to work despite what I'd feared , restoring all the bookmarks, all the mail, and finding all the stored passwords. There may be hope for pictures and more regular service to be restored soon.

There are still an awful lot of people on sub-2MB connections who can't rely on reliably accessing cloud storage, and a lot more who don't want to. All computers now seem to be going up in price alarmingly, while other technology is coming down. Another 4" of snow here overnight. The car hasn't moved since 27th December when Mr BW went out to get some wood for new door frame etc projects.

Postie says he hasn't seen it like this for so long in more than 30 years. Which is exactly what he said about the sun in the summer.

Either he's taking the piss or climate change is really showing itself. Grocery delivery van got stuck lengthwise between the stone gateposts yesterday. I think he was going Cnc Router Carving Bits too fast and slid sideways when he braked. How we still have a dry stone wall there I have no idea! I haven't yet heard that they are refusing to deliver here again, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Black Feline Familiar is disgusted by the depth of the snow and won't leave her bed. The birds are ravaging the feeders constantly in daylight hours. One great tit is the size of a blackbird. The stars are twinkly and the Milky Way is bright. Doesn't seem a whole lot different down south looking at the weather on TV.

Is this as bad as the Beast from the East? We weren't in the country for that of course. Worst daily coronavirus death toll. Nearly 3 million cases and 80, deaths in this country involving coronavirus in 10 months. My thanks to everyone who has been out unnecessarily or behaved unsafely. Can you imagine what the originally-allowed 5 day festive frolics would have wrought on us all? Countrywide, the average rate is now cases per , people. Area around Coven Nord has , and that around Coven Sud has Could someone please tell me the science behind giving the oldest people vaccines ahead of those in frontline daily virus-facing roles: medical staff, domiciliary carers, teachers, police, delivery drivers, food shop workers?

We have had snow, both on the ground, and falling from the sky, every day except two since 24th December. But then we are at m above sea level that's m higher than Coven Sud.

As we look down the valley and over several other distant ones , a geography lesson unfolds: there is no snow on the lower levels, and more snow on the opposite north facing slopes. I don't think I'd really previously appreciated the difference altitude makes to whether precipitation falls as rain or as snow, in this country. It is snowing again now. It's not very deep, but it is very crisp and even.

Pools of ice crystals in the raised herb garden are great nests for beers, and the whole of the outside is a gigantic fridge extension. Even the Amazon delivery driver looked a bit pale when he got here today and said he was going to get winter tyres for his van this weekend, as a long freeze is forecast. I'm glad we are well stocked up. Very well stocked up actually - probably better stocked than the average corner shop. We appear to have turned into old people.

This afternoon we watched Countdown who knew it was now on at 2pm? This is the first time we have actually sat down to watch TV live, or in the afternoon, since we moved here.

In other news, we now have curtains in the lounge. Plus I'm scared that I have forgotten how to use a sewing machine as it is now a year since I last touched one. Since then, there have been 6, posts and 37, comments. We all used to be more prolific than we are now. There are well over a thousand other ideas still in 'drafts'.

Most 'of their time' - a pertinent phrase or a link with a few words of how I planned to use it - which will never see the light of day. Ageing, failing, and baffling technology and software, plus a connection currently down to 0.

Although not Mr BW who received a new laptop yesterday lunchtime brought to him through the frozen snow, which seemingly doesn't defeat Amazon, DPD, or Morrisons, but does defeat Royal Mail who have only delivered twice since 21st December and is nearly up and running again, with no discernible difference, despite the 0.

This also resulted in us not having a mail delivery for 9 days, and receiving items yesterday that had taken 17 days, first class, to arrive. Given the ingenuity and resourcefulness demonstrated by the Best of British during the last 9 months, I am looking forward to Britain becoming Great again.

Anyone who thinks the worst is over needs to think again. The worst is yet to come, I am sure. Vaccination simply will not work, and will cause a lot of a lot more people to become too complacent and I think that is why second doses of the vaccine are being delayed - to make some - thinking - people realise that they cannot think they are fully protected, so cannot go back to acting as they did a year ago. A standard letter can weigh up to g and measure a maximum of 24cm x Large letters can measure If your post office is like ours and claiming not to have large quantities of stamps to sell, many other shops, including supermarkets, sell stamps - and will deliver them with groceries.

Also, you can use '1st' and '2nd' including 'Large' stamps at their current rate which could be significantly more than you paid for them for posting parcels. If there is an amount over, just keep some small denomination stamps on hand to make up the difference. That's all I've got time for if the lounge is going to get finished and decorated and some cooking is going to get done. At least sense has prevailed officially at last - Tier 4 has been invented!

Coven Sud area remains in Tier 2 though, and we remain in 3 up here, despite not a single case for weeks anywhere nearby. Ho hum. Mr BW has finished painting the walls and has now cleaned and repolished the oak floor in the lounge today and it looks fabulous. I still haven't managed to get near enough to the main PC to sort out the photos for the last post, although I have been busy sorting out, and finding new homes for the many items we brought back with us on Tuesday.

I now have my address filing box and my recipe filing box up here. I am truly settled in. What's the weather like where you are? You'll have to imagine the photos for a few hours as my little netbook has run out of disc space and so won't let me play with the photos to re-size them - I'll need to get on the main PC, but that is currently shrouded in dustsheets that can't be moved until there is no more dust, and the dust won't remove itself, so I'd best get on with it I had a lovely WitchDay yesterday.

I hid upstairs away from workmen, and didn't get dressed all day. That re-claimed bed is wonderful. While we just had mattresses, my bed didn't feel 'right'. My middle name is now officially Goldilocks, because it turns out that when the mattresses came upstairs, Mr BW had accidentally given me his mattress rather than mine it is a 6' adjustable bed in two 3' parts , and I knew , although I didn't realise. We had a delicious dinner, including cabbage, potatoes, garlic, mint and other herbs from the garden, and watched Brazil , which I love but hadn't seen for many years.

How can it be 35 years ago that it first came out? Still as amusing now as it ever was I've always laughed in places no-one else does, but then I've worked in government depaartments and local authorities, and unless you have, you couldn't possibly imagine 'the rules' , and Amazon Prime have thrown me up a whole lot more films of a similar ilk I didn't know it did that , which should feed my inner anti-establishment demon for a while.

Talking of which, have you seen the cover of the last Private Eye? I had a couple of WitchDay phonecalls from people I hadn't spoken to for a while, and lots of kind messages that challenged my ageing technology, but were lovely. Mr BW even managed to construct a bow for my WitchDay present out of just wrapping paper. The box of bows all saved from presents given to us and reused and ribbons is still down south, but we did bring up wrapping paper on a recent trip that needed 'bulky but light' to fill a corner of the trailer.

We don't usually give each other 'big' presents, but there are a few pieces of equipment that we need for the new greenhouse and for other household projects that we are calling 'presents' this year, as we'd buy them anyway, and haven't been out anywhere to buy our usual 'objets' that we usually wrap and present at the appropriate times of year.

Here's my hydropod:. The best present of all was that the plasterer bought his 2 mates to help out, and so got done in one day what was expected to take two: repair and reskim the the lounge ceiling after the plumber's flood, and put up the new plaster coving I'm still shuddering at the polysterene narrow 'coving' that we took down - exactly the same sort I put up in a farm cottage in Somerset in Mr BW was going to do the coving, but he's knackered from all the extra work after the flood and sometimes time is worth more than money.

It was almost worth Mr BW giving the plasterers half of the gluten free lemon drizzle WitchDay cake he made me It's the best LDC I have ever had I think he used slightly more lemon juice than they said, poured some more lemon juice over the finished cake for extra lemony-ness to cut through the sweetness, and made a double batch in a small Aga roasting tin, which is about double the size of the tin the recipe specifies.

A friend down south discovered the Dove's Farm recipes a few months ago she bakes a lot and says she has not yet found a bad one, either gluten-free or non-gluten-free, and that even her discerning boys can't tell what sort of flour she has used. There are some great looking festive recipes currently at the top of that list of recipes on that last link. I have my eye on Einkorn and Rye Stollen , modified a bit to be wheat free. While on the subject of recipes, I discovered the Lakeland recipes this week There's an interesting looking recipe for what they call ' Pigs in Blankets ', but I'd call a way to sell a cutesy cooking mould but the idea looks interesting, and is no doubt adaptable to use what you have.

Coven Nord is on a windy ridge that looks down the valley over That Roman Emperor's Wall did you know, he was only Emperor for 21 years? There are a couple of small villages and a town that are usually completely hidden in the folds of the countryside by day and just-about visible as a very slight glow on a clear night. I went downstairs before first light this morning until this week, I haven't slept upstairs since early , and having only ever slept upstairs for 11 years of my life, between and , all I can say is roll on the extension and the creation of a downstairs bedroom here - and in the meantime, does anyone know if they still make teasmades?

After a few seconds I realised that it was actually the 'nearest' market town, in all its festive light polluting glory! Nowhere near enough to block out the Milky Way, and a tiny fraction of the light pollution that now ruins every horizon at Coven Sud, but something I'd rather not be seeing in a Dark Sky Area.

What a waste of energy. I do wonder how many so-called environmentalists are currently burning unnecessary bulbs night and day. I'm not against festive lights, provided they are low-energy LED types, and not on constantly.

Another red sky this morning, here glinting off the conservatory roof and the puddle in the field:. Another Coven Record was set yesterday Tonight, for the first time since March 13th, we have a proper bed with base, kindly heaved up the stairs and over the bannisters by the plastering team last week, and wet-cleaned by me, and over-hauled by Mr BW - it's amazing how many screws and slats have come loose in its south to north and downstairs to upstairs travels , in a proper bedroom, with new silver carpet, newly white-painted and insulated walls, new skirting board, insulated roof, new blackout blinds the roofline is so odd and old that it doesn't lend itself to curtains , and a brand new gleaming white en-suite, with huge shower.

And with 'comfort height' loo. That is, 3" or 4" above standard, which makes a lot of difference to ageing people. If only we'd known about those before, because, both being tall, it's probably like a normal height loo to an average height person. Future proofing, because I have an aversion to those plastic 'booster seats' for toilets that are dished out to those with mobility problems.

The plasterers return again tomorrow to repair and reskim the lounge ceiling after the plumber-caused flood, and to put up the coving Mr BW had intended to do that, and we've had the coving and adhesive since before the first lockdown but with all the extra work Mr BW has had to do of late, due to the aforementioned, we decided to just pay to have someone else put it up, to get it done.

We might yet charge it to the incompetent plumber. Our costs are now well beyond the cost of his invoice, so no doubt we will have to take him to the Small Claims Court to get the balance out of him. That being the case, I shall also be putting in a call to Trading Standards and also to all the so-called 'professional bodies' he claims to belong to.

Not that I imagine they will be at all interested. My experience of such bodies, to date, as well as of review sites, is not positive. And if it doesn't - well, the hens tell us that the greenhouse is nice - and they have even started laying again in our absence.

We'd had just 5 eggs since the end of October, but they managed eight between the seven of them in the 4 days we were down south. Never in the past 22 years have we had to buy eggs until recently. Still, at least we can now have WitchDay home-laid scrambled with the smoked salmon in the morning.

I'm more than frustrated that the whole country is undoubtedly going to be in lockdown again come January, because of those people who can't cope with the idea of deferred gratification, or not going out shopping for unnecessary items, just for one year. Probably the same people who don't bother to wash their masks regularly What with visiting the sick who the NHS continue to fail , and sorting out all the 'unexpecteds' Aga that went out when the central heating went on, colonies of b33s still being attacked by wasps that should have been dead at the end of September, young friend needing lots of help with her university 'personal statement' , there wasn't much time for sorting out 26 years worth of accumulations.

With the exception of the pen drawer: at one point, one could buy refills for G7s, and I collected quite a few empties before the refills became more expensive than complete new pens: I did salvage the metal springs for Mr BWs 'sculpture pile', to which a dead wine bottle opener also donated some 'ears' : That was a great bottle of wine when it left SA last year, but was distinctly underwhelming on opening.

The polytunnel provided little in the way of veg for Sunday lunch, but a peeler took out the mice tooth marks from the courgettes and mini butternut squash and we are still alive today. Waste not, want not. Tomorrow, just as soon as the heating oil has been delivered promised for 7. Down here we are m from Tier 3 on Wednesday, but up there, with a rate times less than here except that our rate north is 0, not 1, so not times at all , we remain in Tier 3. But why wait until Wednesday to start Tier 3?

Local schools have already closed, having "run out of teachers" and 'green wards' in the local hospital are now all 'red' with more than half the patients and three quarters of staff testing positive. We can't get the net panels we made for last time up north in the trailer too big and not aerodynamic , so the hens had to go in half the greenhouse we barricaded them in, wonder if they stayed in that half?

Probabaly the most expensive hen house in the world. Erm, no, definitely the most expensive hen house in the world. Or "hen hoos" as the locals would have it. In other news, I am unable to edit the Morrisons delivery due on Wednesday, so we seem destined to receive at least one of everything I have ordered since April, originally added to the basket in a one-click 'instant shop' hurry, when I was delighted to unexpectedly get a slot.

The new housing measures, which will come into force on 14 December , mean that it will be a legal requirement for all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.

Well, that will be interesting for all the new Pandemic Hen Keepers Last night we finally moved out of the living room and into the main bedroom, as the en suite is now finished and the bedroom carpet laid. Unfortunately we are back to sleeping on the floor, as we did for the first few weeks albeit this time on our comfortable Tempur matresses , as we are unable to get the heavy bed bases up the stairs.

We either need some fit young men not many of those round here or to cut off the bannisters which are of vintage, and were nasty then.

Given that we eventually hope to move the stairs completely, and that we have other awkward furniture to get up the stairs, the latter seems currently more likely. In the meantime, it's not easy getting out of bed, when you are ageing and your bed is only 8" off the ground. That leaves the living room as the next phase. It now looks like a bomb site. Bodgit and Coverit have a lot to answer for. With the melted snow and then even more rain yesterday and today, the roads around here are more flooded than they have been in 50 years, we're told by Hart-Attack the Plasterer, who will be here again on Monday for a few days, insulating and plastering the walls.

And then we're off down south for a few days as Mr BW's Mum is far from well. Sod being in Tier 3 when there is a District rate in one of the most rural and sparsely populated areas of the country of just As Mr BW said, you wouldn't know the cameras were in two different places.

Glad we're not missing anything by being in the 'wrong place' to get it. How are you all getting on with amassing your ' Just in case the government messes up The Final Exit as much as they're messing up Covid ' stores?

The government must be delighted that The Miracle Vaccine I think not story is taking up all the news space right now as it is deflecting media attention and scrutiny from the real major issue of the day. It occured to me a while ago that some things we buy regularly are at risk: if not from price increases, then from immediate supply chain problems.

So I have high stocks of everything that comes in from Europe that we regularly use that is tinned, bottled, dried or jarred: tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, olives, capers, anchovies, sweetcorn, some beans and pulses, olive oil, and pasta as we only use gluten free, during the mad buying of the first weeks of lockdown, the shelves were empty because those who can eat 'normal' pasta bought all the GF too, and while that did cut the price in half when it came back into stock - that snippet from the local Waitrose Dry Foods Manager - I'm determined not to ever again be pasta-less for weeks.

Oh, and wine, because we're quite fond of Italian sparkling as long as it's not Prosecco, because that is now becoming more like sugar syrup every time I taste it. That lovely wall of floor-to-ceiling new kitchen cupboards is still only a third full though. I also realised that many internet-ordered contact lenses come in from the Netherlands, Germany or Poland, so have two years supply which is actually only 12 pairs as each monthly pair lasts two months as I don't wear them all the time.

I'm sure there are other things that I haven't thought of that will be harder to source, in the short term, but I don't know what they are.

Any ideas? It's going to be cold today: apparently slightly colder in the south than the north, but still in low single figures. Keep warm. And write a shopping list, if you haven't already. Workmen are not just a source of disasters and making Mr BW's careful one step forward work go two steps backwards. They are also a source of amusement. I should really have been noting down these amusing trinkets as they came out of their mouths, but I was fully engaged in keeping an eye on them and noting down the times they were actully here and working, to compare against the hours charged for on their invoices.

Gem 1: Setting: The cloakroom where all workmen are required to wash their hands before coming in to start work most of them aren't bothered with Covid-security, but we are :. In their new utility. I was putting a couple of rows of tiles around a shower tray. It's for a dog you know. They haven't got a dog mind, nor are they planning on getting one.

But it's definitely for a dog. Gem 3: Setting: outside the back door, 2 fitters running a narrow-bore oil pipe 30 yards from the oil tank to a new fire-box, and then into the kitchen. Me: "Erm, that will be my mint, so, no, you can't, just pull it forward out of the way, please.

Gem 4: Setting: on arrival, attired in designer clothes and handbag and expensive shoes, to measure and quote for a wall of floor-to-ceiling kitchen cupboards with shelving, shuddering visibly, and stepping gingerly over lengths of coving Dish Carving Router Bit Unit and skirting board laid along the length of the hallway:.

Oh there were lots more, lots and lots, but I can't think of them now I am trying. I'll stop trying to remember, then my brain will throw them up as it auto-sorts sub-consciously. I'll add them when they come to me. I can clearly remember a conversation with Farmer Friend BW whose fault it is that we ended up up north, 8 miles from that farm, for our latter years a few years ago, when he was talking about his daughter having set up a new local business, based in a local shop that s he'd bought to save it from closing, and extending out to markets, festivals, and supplying shops, pubs and restaurants.

Reliable next day delivery on everything you'd never otherwise even find within a 30 mile radius of here. We rely on it. I groaned inwardly, but smiled outwardly, sort-of understanding - when there aren't any local shops, you can't support them - but also having a deep loathing of the business practices of Amazon. Plus, I've never forgiven them for sending me 5 creased-cover copies of The Guinness Book of Hit Singles in a row the fourth actually being the same copy as the first one that I'd returned soon after they first started business in the UK.

Looking at my order history yesterday, I found that my purchases had increased:. Of which, have been in the last 3 months - blame the en-suite: have you ever thought how many separate items are needed for a completely new bathroom with a new bathroom door, and how many duplicate specialist tools you need to buy when most of your possessions remain stuck in the south?!

This year, of these orders, despite months in two lockdowns, until Thursday, they have never failed once on the given delivery date. That parcel was sent using Royal Mail rather than Amazon Logistics and somehow ended up miles away in the Princess Royal Delivery Centre for 24 hours when it should have been on my doorstep. For months our parcels were delivered from the Newcastle distribution centre, but in recent weeks they've been coming from the new distribution centre north of Carlise and up near the Scottish border - double the distance away.

I do feel for the people in that small village: I can empathise so much with what must be a huge increase in traffic on their rural roads, as it happened to us down south. Some time back I saw a method for calculating how much you have spent on the Amazon site. Luckily I have forgotten where it is. I could work it out by pressing the right button for that merchant in the credit card portal, but I think I'd prefer not to know. I apologised to the postie for the increase in mail to this address since we moved in.

Some days I wonder how I even manage to fit in my little van! A true next-day 7 days a week reliable delivery service. This sexist and discriminatory attitude is sad to hear from you. If you've been reading closely recently, you'll be able to work this out. It's one of his best ever put-downs, I think. It makes me laugh every time I read it, but, in the current situation, you have to laugh or you'd cry!

The current infection rate in our area is This is a large, sparsely populated rural area. Yet we are in the highest tier Tier 3 from next Wednesday. Presumably because of the town and city areas, the County rate is down from the week before. So why must we all be punished for the grubby areas? Meanwhile the County rate around Coven Sud is That is 4 times that of the area around Coven Nord, but yet this area is only in Tier 2.

Unsurprisingly, given these anomalies, Lockdown in the Rural North isn't working round here as no-one seems to be taking it seriously. I have only been out twice since the latest lockdown was enforced on 5th November. But, on each occasion, I've never seen so many people out. In the nearest small village, the post office isn't even pretending to enforce the mask wearing rule, because they are scared of upsetting the locals as there is a new shop opening in the same village very soon.

I've seen from a distance people pull their sweatshirts up over their faces to go in, one woman hold her breath, dash in and out to buy a paper and then exhale noisily over the queue waiting outside to go on. I was inside, posting a parcel, when one large older woman, who was not wearing a mask, was coughing into the air. I asked her more politely than I felt if she would please cough into her elbow, to protect us all, particularly as she didn't have a mask on.

There was no Landrover, of either old or posey variety, outside either. In other news, Late Leaky Unreliable Plumber still apparently the best the area has to offer excelled himself on his last visit on Tuesday, the day after it should have been. From a medium severity leak and two small leaks after previous visits, 15 minutes after his oppo left on Tuesday just before 8pm that's what happens if you don't start until It took us 5 hours each to even begin to clean up until 1am , and boss plumber refused to come out to help, "I've had a drink and I have kids!

Luckily I knew where the main stopcock was, Mr BW knew how to turn the system off, as he had bothered to work it out, and we had a hose handy to drain the system down.

Plus we remembered to punch holes in the ceiling to let the water out as learnt during the Coven Sud extension disaster 14 years ago , so the lounge ceiling didn't actually come down - most people wouldn't have a clue about this sort of damage limitation, I'm sure. By 1am we were exhausted, cold, and had no way to warm up, as the hot waer and central heating were then not working. Having finally turned up at Baaad strategy.

As our nearest neighbour half a mile away emailed when Mr BW replied to an enquiry from her as to our current wellbeing, with the above details, "Is he still alive? We are thinking that maybe he doesn't actually have insurance. We asked the greenhouse base builder for a copy of his insurance certificate before we gave him the work, but didn't even think to ask the plumber I guess one lives and learns. Would any plumber actually provide details of his insurance anyway?

Particularly up here? Defintely much, much, more than the quoted cost of the en-suite plumbing works. Who, other than us, would have 6 old bathmats, 14 old bath sheets, several dustsheets, and many sheets of corrugated cardboard, handy to sog up the boiling water fountain emanating from the detached towel rail hose? Talking of costs, 11 machine loads of washing later, does anyone know the cost of a launderette service wash these days? We need to be re-charging at proper market rates.

The front of the new Aga is now a bluer blue. Not because it wasn't blue enough they'd never have agreed that , but because there was a fault in the enamel, so they had to change it.

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