Good morning Mick and all Gn's from a cold dark but calm north Yorkshire morning. Cant really see much outside yet, but still and no sign of snow at all, so we may be lucky and be missed out from the storm or it is going to be later here.
At least this weather has made me make some effort here at home. Very pleased yesterday to have finished all the ironing, and drawers and wardrobes are full of clean and sorted clothes, which should last for quite a while, so quite pleased with that. Due to the forecast am quite up to date with most of shopping and so hopefully if it stays calm I only really need to go and get my local paper and the odd bit, and then can return to another catch up day at home.
I went to my meeting and lunch yesterday which in themselves were very pleasant, but I was in a lot of pain, struggling to move about and if it hadnt been the special christmas do I think I would have stayed at home. Even with extra painkillers I struggled all day. It is also exhausting, not just coping with the pain, but when you feel ok you just walk about and do whatever without constantly thinking of how to move, and what is the least painful etc. So I enjoyed meeting everyone, but went in the car, as didnt even feel up to using the buggy. I went to the hotel a little early as I knew how busy they would be in their car park. This was the hotel that I stayed in last year when there was the disaster with my bathroom. Some of you may remember the saga, and it was very nice to be greeted by many of the staff and asked how things are etc. I was pleased to see that they are very busy and still keeping going and very efficient as usual, so hopefully they will keep going.
We have a factory shop in the town , which it was announced on the news yesterday they are all going into administration, so sorry for the staff there and dont know who will take over from them. There is a wide range of shops here from quite pricey and special such as Betty s which always seems to have a queue waiting to go in on a morning (I always assume they must be visitors. Cant imagine local yorkshire folk paying their prices when we have quite a choice of other cafes serving very good fresh food a lot cheaper!) and then the usual ordinary bread shops like Thomas and Greggs. We have lots of small independant shops like a leather shop and those are quite close to Barkers which is our smart department store - think of something more like Are you being served, where you can get all sorts of things, and they have their own cafe too. With the auction marts and main line station etc it is the centre hub town for many people in the area and keeps quite busy most days.
I came home expecting my cleaning lady to either be here or have been to find a note telling me that she had come but there was no key in the special place and she hadnt been able to get in. So bad news and of course nothing sorted. Tried to contact her but no luck and so it was a very slow afternoon, just getting the bed changed, the washing put on racks and stuck out in the garden for a little bit of a blow, couldnt manage to get down to the washing line, and then finished the ironing. Not a great finish to the day.
However thank goodness this morning , still rather hobbling about, but not in as much pain, for which I am grateful, and so far as I can tell , we have been passed by from the storm, with no problems. But of course around here you can have two villages 10 miles apart treated very differently, one having no problems and the other needing the snow ploughs to even get out. I hope that all our gn friends are safe and have not had any damage if they have had the storm battering their homes. I shall wait to see the local news on the tv to see what has hapened in our area, but no doubt the dales will have had a lot more snow and the ploughs and tractors will be out and about. I would imagine that the quad bikes will make it a bit easier to feed stock and get around than in years gone by when you stuck your wellies or walking boots on and dug a way to the sheep with your dog helping you to find them under snowdrifts. It does seem odd to me when you see the great fuss there is on the news about any stormy or snowy weather in the winter now. We expected it , and just got on with it, dressing appropriately and carrying on. We walked 3/4 of a mile to our junior school and just expected to carry on walking there in the snow, not have the day off every time it snowed. When I went to the grammar school in Beverly it was about the same walk to the station, I think it was about 15 miles to Beverly and then about half a mile walk at that end too, but we just got on with it, apart from the one occasion where it became so much worse over the day that they had to stay at school for the night, as the trains couldnt get them home. It was seen as a great adventure and those of us who got home were rather sorry we were not part of the excitement. Ah well we shall see what today brings, and hope that people have been safe and warm at home and hoping that the channel islands are able to get power back and help to get over their problems.
Hope you have a safe journey today Mick. Bellasnana looks like even Malta is not so warm today, hope you get your haircut. I am hoping that all gns are safe and have no damage and will come back on later to discover the news from everyone but must get cracking on with a couple of jobs and then look out to see if it is going to be safe to go out for the paper etc. Too dark still to tell. Have to keep reminding myself that the days are getting lighter, as so far you could not tell! Wishing everyone a safe and warm day
