Diary > Thursday 14th January

[Roobarb]

Was exhausted last night, slept well but woke up with a dull stress headache. It was raining, a grey and miserable day. Did some Pilates, I prefer to do a short session several times a week rather than a longer one.

After lunch was looking to see if it had stopped raining so I could go for a walk. Shortly after I'd finished it did seem to have stopped so off I went. Cold out again, didn't stay out long, was walking around the streets and walkways, wasn't even going to attempt the field or woods, it would be far too wet. Won't be going to the beach at the moment, there have been complaints about the number of visitors coming down to the coast, I'll stay away from them.

Did some drawing in preparation for art class tomorrow, then the postie arrived with a small parcel containing the masking fluid I'd ordered. Painted that on the other painting, was waiting for it to dry when the phone rang. It was my friend L, she was having problems with preparing for the drawing, I told her I had a cunning plan and to email her reference photo to me. I tinkered with it so that she could easily do the drawing to an A3 size, emailed back to her then phoned to tell her how to print it. She was really grateful, it made things so much easier for her. We then had a chat about allsorts, she hadn't yet watched Landscape Artist but we'd both watched the Pottery Throwdown. We had such a laugh about some silly things, it did me the world of good.

Did some cod loin for tea, roasted with new potatoes, tomatoes, parsley and lemon and some of the leftover ratatouille from the other day. Watched the last episode of The Pembrokeshire Murders, what a terrible story it is considering that it's true. Makes me wonder how the relatives of the victims feel about these sorts of programmes.

[Mowsehowse]

Well done Roobarb, how great to help out your friend like that.
I agree with you about the TV programme.... but I assume families are consulted during the process?? Not that it necessarily helps.

Nothing much happening this end. 
Was very saddened to notice 2 workmen removing a dolphin body from the beach.  It must have come in during the night and beached, deliberately or otherwise, but so very sad.

After lunch I met up with a friend who is living alone and desperate for company. We took a long walk along the sand as the tide was out.  Happily, it being a dull day, there were not too many people about.  I had some dried mealworms in my pocket, and the very instant I started to undo the bag, a flock of friendly turnstones landed around my feet. They are such delightful little opportunists. 
We returned via Oldway which she hadn't seen before.  It is so damp and bleak at this time of the year, not the best time to introduce it to her. 
Hopefully she felt a little bit restored by some company.... (even mine)!! 

Nothing else interesting to report. (3 ships in the Bay!!)

[Caw1]

It’s a shame that people just don’t understand about how far to travel for exercise making your local area almost a no go area because of it!
I’m full of admiration for your skills with tinkering around with phots etc! I can’t even manage to put any links on this site should I want to!..
Hope your headache went after your walk...

Well I can only describe yesterday as wet, wet, wet..... all day... I can’t remember what I did yesterday it was so uneventful.... apart from being soundly thrashed at scrabble... I mean to use all tiles on the first go and score the extra 50 points isn’t on! Downhill from there after 😢😢
Friend delivers bit of shopping and mentioned the flooding along the roads in and out of the village and surrounding areas... she’d had to do a big detour to get to the dentists as a result and wasn’t too happy!
We had cod loin too for dinner coated in Dijon mustard in the oven with pots, tons, mushrooms...
I read for most of the evening while OH watched the snooker... finally finished the 800+page book in the early hours...
An exciting day.... not ...

Hope others have had a better one..

Caroline

ADDED - how sad to see a dead dolphin MH... they’re such beautiful creatures the way they glide through the water... I suppose at this time of year these things happen... 😢

You should be know as The Bird Lady... you do see lots and feeding them be careful you don’t get mobbed!
We regularly see magpies in the garden usually having an altercation with the squirrels! We’ve a nesting box on one of the trees that we can see from the living room and every year we’ve had a family of Blue Tits nesting in it... there are a few sussing it out currently and one morning we heard a right todo with two of them having a barny over who was going to live in it! Our neighbours have a pyracantha across one wall which has been feeding the local birds almost stripped bare now! They are starting on our holly bush now that has an abundance of berries this year... roll on spring!

[Mowsehowse]

So lovely that you have so much wildlife in your garden Caroline....
My house in Newton Abbot had hedgehogs, and lots of different birds that nested; wren, thrush, blackbird, robin. Not an enormous garden, but plenty of shrubs, bushes and trees.
One winter I happened to see a flock of Redwing. They landed on a bush for about 5 minutes, stripped every berry off it and disappeared. Such a wonderful sight.
But you don't need masses of space. I know of a garden no larger than 3m square which has nest boxes, and they had bluetit chicks fledging two years ago. 

[louisa maud]

MH
How many boats in the  bay, my brother said there was quite a few last week

LM

[Annette7]

Poured with rain all day.  So depressing - however, had a lovely whatsapp from one of my great nieces and she says she wants to be the first to hug me when this is finally over.

A few days ago I explained why I don't go for walks due to the many eastern Europeans who live in my area and who generally congregate in groups and flout all the rules.

Was reading in local paper that on New Years Day, after a tip-off, police went to a property in a road 2/3 minutes walk from me at 9.20pm to find 10 people having a party - 7 adults and 3 children.   Only 1 of them lived there.   Told to break it up and go to their respective homes.   Police returned in the early hours and 4 still there carrying on as they had before.   These 4 appeared in court on Wednesday (glad it was dealt with so swiftly) and all received fines.   They were Romanian and they seem to be the worst.   (A couple in our block are Romanian and the male in particular is surly and rude - he's the one who told another couple in the block that COVID is not real!!!!  All a government ploy!).

Whatsapp video link up with sister and 2 friends for a general chat - lasted an hour and a half.   
I hadn't yet had my evening meal so that was first on the agenda once it ended.

Supposed to get heavy snow on Saturday morning - however, forecast for rest of day is heavy rain so will obviously get washed away.

Had a parcel delivered by Hermes late morning - jigsaws and books which will keep me occupied.

Wish the temperature would go up a little so we are out of the freezing zone - can't bear it.

A non-freezing sunny day will lift our spirits.

Stay safe.

Annette   

[Roobarb]

MH, very sad about the dolphin, I suppose they have to die somewhere when their time comes but difficult to witness. I'm sure your friend felt much better after your walk, it's so good to have company (especially yours I'm sure!) when you've been alone for so long.

Caroline, sounds like you're pretty waterlogged around your way. Hope today has been a more interesting one for you.

Annette, it must be really difficult living near all those people who could endanger your life. Good to hear that the police dealt with them quickly, although it doesn't do anything to help you feeling intimidated by them. It's been freezing here too, the forecast is for an increase in temperature tomorrow of about four degrees, hope it's the same for you.