What are you all up to

We had -9 degrees early this morning, and it only reached 1 degree when the sun was out.   

Looking after Nathan and Callum today, so down to DD for about 12.30, and there till almost 17.00.   We had forgotten to take something out of the freezer for dinner, so it was  18.30 before food was ready.

Another night of freezing temperatures but thankfully the ground is dry. It has been a beautiful, although cold, sunny day so we had a drive down to the coast for a walk both before and after lunch. There were a few guys about doing a bird survey, and also a small plane tracking back and forth over the bay, not ideal for the bird count. We were fortunate enough to see a Lancaster Bomber flying down the length of the bay too.

WN, pleased to hear that you managed to get an appointment at the dentist for your OH and that the tooth is repaired. Was the coat shopping expedition a success the other day?

The bitterly cold weather makes looking after the stock more difficult and time consuming - frozen pipes and troughs etc. I'm glad to be indoors.

Yesterday one end of the village had no water (burst in a field) while the other end had a scheduled power cut. Happily we were the end with no power - just from 11 till 3. The Aga keeps on going whatever the weather so we were warm and I could feed the whole family.  The only problem was that when the power came back on a surge did something to the parlour controls and we had to have the dairy engineer out. All sorted and then back inside for a late supper.

My other problem was the darkness - our windows are small and the rooms don't get much natural light, so it was impossible to sit and read.

Had to take sorento to garage early this morning and then i walked back from LOS along the seashore, beautiful morning -5degs but still lovely, people using the beach side Sauna, the owner told me it was almost 90 degs inside, need to pluck up courage to use it and then plunge into the Solent, it looked very inviting

sorento needed new steering bush, 67pence for the part £100 labour plus vat , had new aircon condensor fitted earlier in the week £650, will need to go back to work at this rate

Was the coat shopping expedition a success the other day?

Yep, we ended up getting one at Go Outdoors. We tried everywhere at Ellesmere Port Outlet Village the other day without success. Jack Wolfskin had some that were tempting but OH said they were too much like her existing JW and she wanted something more 3 seasons rather than winter.

"Normal" morning so far. Food shopping for us and a few bits for MiL. Off soon to visit. She seems to have satisfied her Physio yesterday which is pleasing. I suspect she would be home if her vision problem had been solved. Too "wobbly" at present.

Here's a bit of good news - I had a bit of good luck today. About a week or so ago, I got an email from an organisation called NFU Mutual Voice saying that because of my participation in their surveys (aimed at marketing the NFU) over the last couple of years, I had won £100. Just click here to claim your reward!!

"Oh yes" said I - "if ever anything smacks of a scam, this was it" - especially as the originating email had a domain based in the British Indian Ocean Territory (.io) which Mr Google told me is largely used by high tech and start-up companies.

Emailed our local NFU office and asked them to check whether it was genuine and left it alone - until yesterday.  Then I did some digging and worked out that the email address matched that of the genuine NFU Mutual Voice and that the reward was being offered by a USA company which had excellent reviews and operated this service for over 10,000 companies, worldwide. 

So - gave it a go and followed the website links until I got to choose how I would be 'paid' and opted for an Amazon gift voucher since that would avoid revealing bank or personal details etc.  Didn't expect it to work - but - bingo - I now have £100 credit in my Amazon account(They sent me a code which I put into my account - didn't allow 'them' access, obviously) Reassuringly, just had an email from NFU IT Dept to confirm the original email was / is genuine.

(That doesn't hide the fact that I have been checking my bank account every day since I got the original email just to make sure it was OK!!)

Cheered me up a bit on an otherwise cold and miserable January day

Well done richardandros.But isn’t it sad when there are so many scammers about that we are all rightly disbelieving and have to carry out all of these checks to enjoy something that should be a pleasure.

I have had a very enjoyable couple of days. Today I met up with Bakers2 as she now lives only a few miles from me. We had a really good natter over a coffee and a scone at a local garden centre. The time just flew by! It was such a pleasure and hopefully we will meet up again before too long.

Yesterday was a treat. Eldest son and given me and our daughter (his sister obviously!) a voucher each for The George at Stamford and we decided to treat ourselves to a cream tea. OH decided to join us but he had to buy his own 😁. We went to Stamford early and had a good wander round the shops before we enjoyed a very enjoyable cream tea. I will put some photos up shortly as I have just realised I haven't re-sized them yet.

Pleased to hear that your MIL is making good progress WN. Hopefully it won't be too long before she is home again.

Well done on your win R&R.

Looks like a lovely spread, Millie, hope your OH enjoyed it as much, having had to pay for it himself, as you obviously did!😁

Nice win, Richard, even if it was a bit of a tortuous route to get it.

Good to read that your MIL is improving, WN. Fingers crossed that oversight rapidly improves and she will be home in the not too distant future. Glad to hear that the birthday coat was purchased.

Bit of an expensive week, rufs, Hope that all is right with your car now.

Chilly day here, and although it stayed dry for most of it we got caught in a short hail shower when out for our mid-morning walk.

Wow!  Lovely to be back.  Well done to everyone who fixed it. 👏🏻👏🏻