A Red Sky In The Morning . . . Boris' Trousers on Fire

 Sunday. 10.15 a.m. Another cold and blustery day. The cough is still causing problems. I continue to take the cough mixture, and it seems to help. I didn't go to church because of the cold and the effect it would have on the cough. I took a dose of cough mixture and then attempted to watch the SCF service via Facebook, but the whole thing froze up and wouldn't work properly. Furthermore, I imagine it's got something to do with the church broadband connection. Several other people who were watching posted that they were finding the images were freezing or at least juddering. It really needs dealing with, unfortunately.

Monday. 8.10 a.m. It's cold again this morning, but I could see a bright red sky from my window as I was having my breakfast. What do they say? 'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning. Red sky at night, shepherd's delight.' Not sure how accurate, but let's wait and see whether it gets colder or even windy. Storm Arwen has done its worst and calmed down and disappeared, but next, we have to expect Storm Barra. Don't ask me where they got the name from.

Wednesday. 7.45 a.m. Alfie is definitely not one to like cold, wind, rain or generally wet in any form. This undoubtedly this morning when we went out and the little tyke was in and out as quickly as possible and back tucked up on the sofa, but, as I write, on my bed, probably under the duvet.

11.10 p.m. I was just getting off to sleep when the merry sound of the fire alarm went off. No doubt someone in another flat within Dexter House has either forgotten to check their oven was on with their oven chips or something, a fag-end was left smoldering in an ash-tray, or else they burnt their toast. Either way, it's deafening which means I moved from the bedroom into the lounge, and Alfie's looking at me as he doesn't like the noise. Who can blame him? Whatever it is that set the confounded thing off means I get to write a bit more of this and Alfie's attempting to climb on my knee which is impossible with the laptop in the way. There is a fire engine outside in Dexter Avenue as I can hear the engine running and I could see the flashing blue light when I look out of the window, not that easy as my Christmas tree is in the way. I just hope they manage to discover the reason for the alarm being set off as my ears are ringing from the sound of the alarm and giving me a headache.

Incidentally, on a different matter, has nobody realized that omicron is an anagram of moronic? Or that the two words delta and omicron spell 'media control'? Too right. The conspiracy theories regarding the pandemic and the virus just go on. Boris Johnson now attempting to wriggle out of the latest scandal regarding the Christmas party which was alleged to have taken place in Number 10 Downing Street last year after pandemic restrictions were introduced and not adhering to the aforementioned regulations and making a mockery of the whole situation when the rest of us were in lockdown and not supposed to attend any sort of party. Totally contemptible. Makes me wonder how much longer Johnson can last as Prime Minister as he is rapidly turning into a liability, to not only the Conservative party but also the country as a whole.

11.30 p.m. The alarm is still going and no sign of the wretched noise coming to an end. What exactly IS going on? I can't see smoke emanating from any window or anywhere else, so we'll just have to endure it I suppose.

11.55 p.m. By around 11.40 I'd had enough. The fire engine has gone. So, what set the alarm off? I got dressed as Alfie was beginning to get stressed. He can't cope with the noise. We went out through the front door near the SHO's office and there were two men fiddling with the fire alarm keypad, looking as if they were aimlessly pressing random keys on the pad. I don't know who they were, but by the time we'd walked around to the other entrance on Strudwick Drive the alarm had stopped, so we went back in and returned to my flat. Thank goodness it was over and silence reigned once more! I presume there is a fault with the alarm system.

Winter Draws Nearer

Saturday. 8.20 p.m. The weather is getting colder. There is the possibility of snow in some parts of Britain, according to the weather forecast on BBC Breakfast this morning.

I have been baking a traditional Christmas fruit cake. It's not something I have made before, so I had to have a look for a recipe and chose one by Delia Smith. I got most of the ingredients in Sainsbury's during the week. Except I left out the mixed dried fruit, which I don't like. I couldn't get brandy or port, or, at least, in small bottles. Do they call them half bottles? I'm not certain. I had bought a high-grade spring form tin to bake the cake in. Because my oven is difficult to get an accurate temperature, I bought an oven thermometer from Amazon. I think it's vital to have your oven set to the recommended temperature before you decide to make a cake or, indeed, anything you are about to cook. It required a good four hours to bake, which meant I needed time to mix up the ingredients and then allow plenty of time to bake the cake. So on Thursday, I began to follow the instructions in the recipe at around 9 a.m. It came out of the oven at around 6.30 p.m. I had managed to get a small bottle of port from Aldi when I went to Curry's to buy some leads for the Portal TV for when it arrived and would be required for setting it up. I mixed in some port to the dried fruit before stirring up the cake mixture and putting it in the tin and then the oven.

I have removed some over-cooked outer layer of the cake. I may have to have another go at scraping off some more more before I attempt to ice it. I remember my mother used to make Christmas cakes and ice them, with a first layer of marzipan and then the whole thing covered in white icing, I think it's called royal icing. You either like it or you don't. I don't mind so long as the icing isn't too hard. 

Tuesday 4.15 p.m. I have booked my car in to be serviced at Bleak Hall Motors. I have managed to arrange it via their website and paid, getting a discount in the process. It's booked for 8 a.m. this Thursday. I then went to Sainsbury's and bought marzipan and rollable icing which should make the cake icing a good deal easier. I don't think you could get pre-made icing or marzipan when my mother was around making Christmas cakes. Not only that, but I think you just roll each layer out and use warm apricot jam as a sort of glue to stick on the marzipan onto the cake surface. 

Wednesday. 4.10 p.m. I have managed to have a fascinating Zoom session from Bletchley Park on my new Portal TV about Britain and America and the Battle of The Atlantic during World War 2. It works really well and makes things a good deal better than having to peer at a small laptop screen instead. There are a couple more documentaries to go in a four-part series, and then they will be uploaded onto YouTube. Very pleased with the purchase of the Portal TV, which was on offer due to Black Friday offers. I have also bought the sixth and final book in the Peter Ackroyd 'History of England' series called 'Innovation,' which came from Amazon this morning. So, I have that to look forward to reading, although I have plenty of other reading material to read first and, looking at the pile of books atop my bookshelf, it should keep me occupied well into 2022.

Thursday. 2.25 p.m. I took the Renault to Bleak Hall Motors for the 8 a.m. service today. It has had to remain there until tomorrow because they discovered two rear springs which need replacing, and they can't get the parts until tomorrow. I walked back to Dexter House as it isn't particularly that great a distance and will wait until tomorrow when they should ring me to let me know it's ready. I was told I could have driven it provided I didn't go far or over any speed bumps at speed, but I didn't want to risk further problems if the remaining springs were to break. I was fortunate I took the car for service when I did because it could have broken down on the motorway going to Worcester over the Christmas period. Better to get it repaired rather than leave it.

Definitely a good deal colder today. Probably cold enough for snow. I hope not, but could be. There was a light icing on the car windows this morning before I drove to Bleak Hall Motors.

Friday. 8.a.m. Really very this morning. Storm Arwen about to strike, but according to BBC Breakfast it looks as if it's the north-east of England and Scotland which will be struck the hardest. They show it on the maps on the weather forecast in bright yellow which makes me think of those horrible plastic rain coats you used to have which made you hot and sweaty. Pac-A-Mac? I can't say I remember.

2.00.p.m. I had been waiting in expectation from the garage to ring to tell me they'd finished with the car. Then at midday I just happened to glance at text messages and they had sent a text to say the car was ready to collect. There was no point hanging around, so I walked to Bleak Hall. It has been threatening rain. It took me barely half an hour to walk the distance, and it was paid for and I came home soon after. As I write this, the wind has become stronger. I have taken out a few minutes ago, but as soon as we got outside, and I deposited him on the grass, his majesty turned round and came back inside. I don't blame him, but it was funny. He just doesn't like rain or cold.