“Glad it’s all over and we can get back to normal!” was the cheery response twice when I asked two people in town how they had enjoyed Christmas! Whatever their normal is I hope they are enjoying it. Here one of us has had a lot of illness and is just showing some signs of a slow recovery.
The snow of several weeks has all gone and it’s quite mild again – about 6 degrees Celsius after reaching all-time lows recently of minus 11.
Naturally, the car which has started and run well during all the severe frosts refused to start today but attempted to unlock all the doors on turning the ignition key. New battery ordered, since current one is over 6 years old and is obviously becoming unreliable.
Overheard a conversation this morning about the comparative costs now between car ownership and using taxis, with the inexorable rise of fuel costs and insurance. Giving up the car is now quite an attractive proposition for many people, except for the major wrench from all that having it standing in the drive has meant. Independence? Flexible travel planning? Spontaneous trips? No local transport so walking to bus stops and standing in the rain for what might not arrive anyway to take you away and home again?
Work on next door’s orangery has started with skips full of earth disappearing at a fair rate. Mobile temporary builder’s toilet in the front garden is quite a feature of the landscape!
My mother would have been 100 years old this month.