Plenty Of Water

The summer's water shortages and hosepipe ban seem a long time ago now.

This morning saw a frisky little storm up here with gale force winds blowing and heavy rain causing localised street flooding, fallen trees and roof slates plus the obligatory rogue wheelie bins.

When P collected me from my morning's volunteering shift at the Hospice shop he dolefully informed me that all of our leaded, stained glass windows had been leaking with puddles of water collecting on all the window sills.  

We have mopped up the water and stuffed cloths along the bottom of each window but fortunately the rain has now stopped and the sun is shining once more, although the winds have not abated very much.

I really hope that this is just a result of the extreme weather today and doesn't mean that we have huge window restoration bills looming.

Characters On The Bus

We took a bus trip into the sprawling metropolis of Douglas this morning as P had an appointment for his booster jab at midday.

A young woman boarded about halfway there, laden down with a wheeled suitcase, huge rucksack plus a large "bag for life" crammed full.  She managed to get down to the back of the bus where, according to P, she was crying and talking on her 'phone to somebody about having just left home.  She struggled to get off on the outskirts of town so we don't know where she ended up.

After the jab, Christmas present shopping and lunch at The Caff opposite the bus station, we boarded the 1:10 bus back home.  This one was very full and with several "characters" on board.

One (very) young mum boarded first with a toddler in a buggy. Buggy and toddler were parked at the front near the driver whilst mum walked right to the back of the bus for the remainder of the journey. Thankfully, it was only when the bus neared their stop that the little girl jumped out of her buggy and wobbled to the exit door, ready to jump off.  Mum wandered down and retrieved bags and buggy but let the little one jump off by herself and scamper along the pavement beside the busy road. Eeek!

A young man boarded outside the college, looking very arty and studious with his trendy specs and long, collar length wavy hair under a stylish flat cap. He spent the whole journey working on his laptop.

A young man had boarded just after us and sat immediately in front of us. He was wearing baggy joggers and a hoodie and carried with him a most distinctive aroma of curry and pungent body odour.  He pulled up his hood and lay back to snooze for the entire journey, occasionally letting off little puffs of aromatic flatulence to add to the general miasma.

Ah, life's rich pageant.

Polaris

 At 3:35 a.m. I awoke suddenly, no idea why, and lay there for a while looking up through the Velux window in the roof above my bed.

It must have been a fairly clear night because I could clearly see the bright, white light from the North Star (Polaris) hanging directly overhead.  I gazed at it for some time before I eventually dropped off to sleep again.

Out of interest, I googled the North Star and found an interesting article about it.  Apparently, due to the Earth's continuing spinning motion on its axis, in a thousand years' time Polaris will no longer be the "North" Pole Star as we shall be pointing in a slightly different direction.

I shall miss that.

Saving A Few Pennies

Well, it may not quite cover the cost of a new tank of heating oil but we shall not need to buy any apples and pears for a little while.

Which is a good thing as P has persuaded me to book us a little holiday in January .  Deposit paid today and fingers crossed for no disasters before then.

Out Of Puff

I am now recovered from my recent cold virus thingy, although still slightly short of breath. 

We walked into town this morning to stock up on bread,  milk,  yogurt etc and P bought a new pair of wellies as his 30 year old pair have sprung a leak.  Not good walking around the garden in cold, sodden socks.

It took us around an hour or so and I had to stop for a rest on a bench on the way back as I was a little breathless.

After lunch I was looking forward to curling up with my library book but P was keen (very keen) to take me out on a walk around one of the local glens.  "A nice easy walk" he said.

So I dragged myself off the sofa  put on my walking boots and slumped in the passenger seat of the car for the five minute drive down to Cornaa and the car park at Ballaglass Glen.

It is indeed a beautiful spot, almost like an enchanted wood. There is even a Wizard's Trail there for kids. Most of it was easy underfoot but some steep narrow parts around the waterfall had no handrail so P had to help me out.

Here are some photos from the walk...

An hour's walk in total and by the time we got home I was exhausted and just flaked out on the sofa.