Category: Pic of the week

Now that we are through it, I can say that the weather this week has been dramatic.

On Thursday evening, it lashed down – just as I was leaving school to come home (and my trusty, strong Joules umbrella that has withstood many a storm and squall was fatally wounded. Just as I opened it, a strong gust of wind blew it inside out and there was no recovery from that point on. After years of trusty service, it has been consigned to the bin.

And having got home, I had to almost immediately head back out for the cathedral Carol service – perhaps appropriately, the rain was biblical. Friday morning broke calm and beautiful, the pink sky seen in the top photo a peaceful backdrop as I walked to school for the last day of term. I (and I think everyone) was ready for/needed term to end – tired and ready to rest. And that is pretty much all you could do on Saturday as storm Darragh hit with a vengeance, with extremely high winds from Friday night into Saturday. At about 7pm on Friday evening our phones blared into life, klaxon sounding, with a red weather warning. The wind was howling, but we haven’t had too much rain to go with it (thankfully). Its still a bit blowy today, but definitely calming down – a good job as we fly to Madeira at 7am tomorrow morning and I don’t want any delays.

My shoulder/neck/arm is getting much better but I still get the odd ache and pain, particularly on the computer, and sometimes I still wake up in the night and struggle to get back to sleep as I can’t find a comfy, pain free position for my arm. Will be interesting to see if a week away from the desktop proves to be the cure I need.

I can’t quite believe that today is the 1st December, I’m not really sure where November went, and that the month of Christmas is upon us. Above is a pic from school where the trees have been wrapped in lights; when it is quiet and dark in the evening, or the calm gloom of morning, it is peaceful and magical. At home, today I put up our Christmas lights outside.

I continue to ache. At times it has been my neck, at times my shoulder, but I think the route cause of the problem is RSI through using a computer, with pain coursing through and up my right arm. Using a mouse, in particular, seems to be particularly triggering, my right first finger is often tingling and sore. I have ordered myself a “vertical mouse” – arriving on Tuesday – to see if that helps relieve the symptoms.

And, to add insult to injury, lying in bed last night/this morning, I could feel a pain in my lower left back, in a similar position to where I hurt it 4 years ago (same time of year – I wonder if general tiredness, run down-nes, a long term sat in front of a computer are factors?) so I didn’t run this morning, and spent a few hours with my back brace on. It seems to have helped, but I must be cautious as the last thing I want is for my back to “go” again – that was hugely debilitating and painful. Think I have hatched a new years resolution already – when all these current aches and pains have gone away, I need to develop a regular daily stretching regime to shake out the kinks and twists of daily life.

And just for info, today I swapped the dimmer switch in “my room” for a normal on/off switch – a simple task, but no more flickering lights.

Monday was Sophie’s birthday – 25 ! It seems hard to believe. She had been home for the weekend, and was home on Monday for her actual birthday. It was lovely to see her, and share her birthday tea (and cake!) before she went home that evening.

On Tuesday, EasyJet flights for Autumn 2025 opened …

… and we booked flights to Lisbon for October half term. We are experimenting on that trip, and not taking any luggage, other than the small carry on rucksack that we are allowed.

And today we booked our flights for Christmas 2025 – we are flying to Pisa, but will then head to Luca for the four days we are staying in Italy. Going out, once again, only basic hand luggage, but we paid an extra £30 for one extra cabin bag on the return flight, for any Christmas goodies we may but. Total cost of this return flight for us both is £140.

Wednesday was depressing as we woke to discover that – somehow – Donald Trump has been voted in as American President for the next four years. A miasma of depression hung over the day, mirroring the grey, damp weather we have had all week. I am beginning to come to turns with it, and accept the result, nothing I can do about it, so why worry?

The weather has been the same for well over a week now – warm (ish – these thngs are relative. Probably better to say not normal November cold), but grey, leaden skies and a dampness in the air (but no rain), We haven’t seen the sun in days, we’ve lived under a blanket of grey. But this has meant my nasturtiums and geraniums continue to flower, providing some much needed colour. (And, to be fair, the trees have looked good, and when they have shed their leaves they carpet the floor with a dry, crunchiness.

And worth noting, for the record as I am sure that at some point in the future I will want to know when, they have finished resurfacing our road and it is now beautiful smooth, silent tarmac. The absence of noise is noticeable.

On Wednesday we returned from a wonderful week in Spain – I shan’t write about it here as I blogged daily on Hap-pea travels whilst we were away. Here is day one: http://hap-pea-travels.co.uk/uncategorized/an-andalusian-adventure-day-1/

On our return, we found that our road was closed for resurfacing, which caused a few problems. Fortunately, we were allowed down to drop off our cases, before parking the cars in the school car park. (Needed to take the Civic for its MOT the next day – sadly it failed, on a number of things, the emissions failure and structural failure led me to believe it wasn’t worth saving, so is booked in to be taken for scrap in two weeks time). The road does open from 3.30pm to 9.30 am, and is open at the weekend, but it is causing a bit of a faff, although when done the smooth, noiseless tarmac should be a bonus.

Since our return it has been unseasonably warm. Not sunny, but mild and mercifully dry and I spent Thursday and Friday getting the bulk of my remaining bulbs planted. I do still have a few more to plant, but they are earmarked for some pots that are still brimming with flowering geraniums and nasturtiums, so until the first frosts come, and turn them into mush, those bulbs are going unplanted. I also used the time to complete the cleaning of the various decks.

Sophie came home yesterday as it is her birthday tomorrow – 25! who could believe it. She and Becky went to the Newt today, and yesterday I fixed the driver side door that wouldn’t open on her car.

So the half term holiday draws to a close. Its been busy, full and fun!

Half term has arrived, a chance to chill and relax before we head of to Spain later this week. I was not sleeping in the picture above, merely taking advantage of resting in some warm October after a morning of deck cleaning.

With all the wet weather we have had, the decks had become dangerously slippery and they needed a good scrub. Saturday was rain free so I set to the task, and am pleased with the results. The dry weather, though, could not last and this morning we have had more rain and strong winds, although by the afternoon the rain has pushed through leaving a bright-ish sky.

This morning I booked our various busses, from Nerja to Malaga, and then Malaga to Ronda return. I am very much looking forward to our Andalusian adventure.

Hopefully the rain will stay away, and I can begin to start planting some bulbs tomorrow, although I am reluctant to dig up the front trugg as it is still in flower flower with geraniums.

Becky has happily spent much of the last two days de-bobbling her jumpers. She bought a de-bobbler off Amazon and has happily set to on her knitwear.

This morning, Becky and I went to the Zig-Zag building (part of the Red Brick building complex) to see the “As Old as the Hills” exhibition, as part of Somerset Art Weeks. What a magnificent space! We climbed the stairs to the top floor of the Zig-Zag building – so named because of its roof – to see an open expanse of the top floor of an old factory, filled with art work. I am in awe of the vision and creativity of those that can create the individual pieces, but also have the imagination to see how they can be displayed in such a wonderful space. It was a soul lifting hour as we wondered around the pieces, and also took in the vantage point to see “hidden Glastonbury” and the fields beyond.

Weather wise, its not been a bad week, with some sun, and trees beginning to change colour, but this afternoon a little mizzle quickly turned to rain, and it has poured down once again, with a river of rainwater running down the road outside. It has been a very wet September and early October – I am increasingly looking forward to fleeing to the warmer climes of southern Spain in a couple of weeks time.