Cold but Clear

A cold morning, but no frost. A very clear sky when Carol left for work. Some stars out and there was the most beautiful blue sky over-head. No sign of the so-called 'Weather Bomb.' I'm not sure whether it missed this area of the country and what effect, if any, it had on other parts of the British Isles. I think the western side of the country as well as parts of the north got hit by winds, rain and very high seas.

Wet and Windy

There was howling gale outside and rain dribbling down the windows  and making quite a noise all night. I'm not sure whether the so-called 'Weather Bomb' hit the British Isles last night, but it was very wet. As I write this at 7.41 a.m. I have driven Carol to work and there is some rain but only a slight amount and the wind seems to have dropped, thankfully. I doubt our remaining fence will be standing if there is strong wind as I suspect there will be. There is another section which looks to me to be on the verge of falling over. It is very rotten and won't survive much longer. Still, we wait with baited breath to see whether the landlord actually comes to get the fence replaced, but I doubt it.

We are ready for Christmas. We put our Christmas tree up last weekend. We have had real trees in the past, but we never seem to have a great deal of success keeping them alive after the Christmas season. Although they are watered and fed, they never seem to last long outside. We have had two which came from local garden centres and have come growing in pots, but I don't know what it is you have to do to keep them alive. When I was a child and living in Cardington we had a Christmas tree which lasted for years, planted out in the garden and brought in for the Christmas season and then re-planted. It seemed to thrive quite well and grew considerably. Maybe that is the secret; you have to plant them out in the earth. I think the roots need to be freed from the pot they are planted in. I just don't understand why the trees we've had have never survived. Just such a shame as I prefer a real tree to an artificial one, although the one we have, which we bought last year, isn't too bad. At least an artificial one doesn't shed it's needles. We got a really decent set of lights in Sainsbury's and so we do at least have enough lights on it to make it look really good.

Sunny But Cold

It's a bright and sunny day, but it is actually bitterly cold outside. We have been warned of some really bad weather coming in from the Atlantic, high winds and rain. They have called it a 'Weather Bomb.' Not entirely sure what this expression means, but I think they are just warning people that we can expect a really bad storm to hit the British Isles over the next day or two. So, if we get high winds, that will mean that the remaining part of our garden fence will not survive. What does remain is in such a poor state it can hardly be described as 'fence.' 

I have been a volunteer at the Milton Keynes Christian Centre for the past three months or so as we've been running an Alpha course. The course finished last week, as every Monday it was running. Last night we were all treated to a meal at Nandos. All paid for by M.K.C.C. which was very enjoyable. About 15 of us were there. This restaurant is one of a group in a sort of parade of units recently built near the stadium. There is another similar 'parade' near Kingston Tesco's. Carol and I went there for my birthday in October and we had a meal at Frankie and Benny's.