Thursday 20th February

Really cold morning, the outside temperature was showing minus eight degrees and the inside was pretty low and I was waiting for that sun to come up so that I didn't have to light the fire.  I went back to bed and to the warmth until I noticed that the sun had shown it's face, I opened the curtain to the stairwell and literally watched the thermometer rise and it didn't take long.  I tidied round and as I walked back with my coffee and breakfast from the kitchen to the table in the stairwell, there was a knock on the door, I realised I hadn't put the key on the outside of the door so I opened it for her.  She brought with her two chocolate croissants and two chocolate bars and one of the croissants went very well with the coffee.

I played a few games of freecell and then sorted out the desk.  It had become a dumping ground and now I can find things again.  I listened to BBC radio podcasts as I worked my way through it and found it very restful.  I was also amazed to see that there were a few flakes of snow falling and it looked like it was appearing from a blue sky but it was obviously being brough in on the wind and that was howing pretty strongly outside.  Next step was to bring in the wood from the conservatory so that I had some in for the night....it was a hard slog but fortunately there was quite a lot of oak in there which burns very slowly so three logs have done for the evening.  I'll need the lad round to fill the log carriers and the containers.....I'm not up to that yet.

I've just checked and we're down to minus three alreay and it's just before nine but for the next couple of days there is a warning out for very low temperatures.  I must say though, with three quilts on I've never been cold in bed.  So now, back to the other side of the great divide between the stairs and the fire....don't want to get too cold.  LN.....It might be time to throw another log on the fire.....LN

Friday 21st February

Got the fire going really well last night and didn't use much fuel at all, the oak burns so much better and there was enough in the burner to lay the fire for tonight with the remnants of the logs from last night.  I've also got enough in for another couple of days but it was a big tempation to light it much earlier today.  The outside temperature hasn't risen about zero, inside has fluctuated but about two degress, in the sun this morning was around twenty two but then the clouds came over....so more layers went on.  

I made breakfast early, lots of hot coffee and kept on top of my housekeeping for what it's worth.  I had a telephone call from a good friend and I mentioned oil filled raidators and since he's going to England today, he has a couple that he can let me have so they should be delivered over the weekend hopefully.  I'll see how effective they are, I only used them before in the children's bedroom when they were small but at these temperatures, not really sure.  The house is well insulated in the loft and the walls have outside insulation but at minus eight at night....I'll have to see.  Blow the expense...I just hate being cold and the electicity prices aren't like the UK.

Today has been BBC radio and podcasts and now I've reverted too my own music collection and I have Bernstein playing on a playlist and he was in my eyes just so brilliant and composer and musician...not sure I would have liked him as a person but it takes all sorts.  I learnt all about cuneaform writing and the languages that it influenced, I'm learning new things every day...every day is a school day even at my age.  I've finished my Large Print Christmas Sudoku and only have one and two stars puzzles to solve...not a real challenge, I shall have to start doing them on line or settle for Freecell.  Trouble is there is so much advertising that arrises when you go on line...never quite know what to expect.  

Time to light the fire, the clouds have come over and it's already down to minus two outside and dropping inside as I write.  LN...Sorry no pickies....I'll try and do better tomorrow....LN

Saturday 22nd February

This is going to be very short tonight, I've typed it out twice and for some reason my fingers are just hitting the wrong keys and I've lost the text twice.  From minus fourteen overnight to plus twenty eight in the stairwell this afternoon, it's been one of those days.  I did the chores, striped off and did the washing, dressed once more in warm clothing, my angel arrived mid morning and chopped logs for me and brought them into the conservatory.  Chicken leg with potatoes, curry powder and can of tomatoes and that would eventually become supper, and was.

Made and sent a birthday card this afternoon, for some reason I'd forgotten about this one in my February list but at least I did it and he's got it.  Just three photos this afternoon.  LN.....I'm heading the other side of the curtain......LN

Sunday 23rd February

Another really cold night so I didn't bother getting out of bed until later this morning.  One little mishap came to flush the loo and no water and I immediately thought that the pipes were frozen, checked the hand basin and all was OK so it was a matter of lifing the lid to the cisern, fiddling around a little and it worked, something was just stuck and it's been fine all day.  I can now add plumber to the jobs in which I am fairly accomplished.  I got supper underway early so that I could cross it off the list, liver and rice in the remains of the sauce from last nights in the slow cooker.  I've just eaten it and it was OK...but a one off.

My angel arrived around nine and I wasn't expecting her.  The water at her mother's house had frozen and she was off to the spring so I offered some bottles that she could fill that I have saved from the summer.  She took the key to the little house where I store them and took around ten of them...we quite mutally supported at the moment...I provide, she does.  She filled up two more log baskets for me, split oak for me so that I can manage to lift it to put in the woodburner and put smaller wood that I use to start the fire.  She's brilliant.

Found some new books...yes real books and checked how much they are on Kindle and I might even invest in the set of four.  I must check out Kindle unlimited....it's plus and minus's.  I read for a while, went to sleep in the sun when it reached thirty degrees in the house, read some more, did Sudoku badly and have listened to BBC 2 live all afternoon over the internet.  I've had a much better day and even tried a few steps without the walker, the pain is still there, I need the tablets but I feel there is some improvement.  LN....Robo is about to start so I'll sign off, the curtain needs to be drawn so that I don't loose him under the stairs....LN

Monday 24th February

Another minus six outside and no hint of a sun to brighten the day.  I didn't hang around, I lit the fire early otherwise it would have been a cold one inside as well as out.  I'm trying to be frugal with the wood, there's plenty in the wood store but getting it from there to here is a problem for me.....I was supplied with enough yesterday but looking at the weather forecast, Wednesday is going to be the first time we see the sun this week and only for a half day.

I  didn't seleep well last night, I was trying to toss and turn but that only hurts so I try shuffling about and do my best to get into a position where I can at least get some rest.  I didn't make breakfast and settled for two hot drinks instead and a few biscuits, I was too busy thinking about how to keep warm.  I've got warmer clothes on the second floor but it was the thought of getting around up there....the frame would be downstairs and I would be up and I didn't want to run the risk of further accidents....one is enough.  The fire eventually started to be heating the room, the radiators still haven't been delivered and no notion of when they will.  Mid morning I did go back into the bedroom and found mour warmer clothing, a pair of wollen socks hand knitted by Avatar and I only wish she was here now and not in Germany.

At twelve I resorted to the sofa and Netflix and the exercise was feeding the woodburner.  Someone recommended Yellowstone, I'm still not sure but watching it because I was too lazy to search for anything else.  I did investigate the cost of four books I have about Boudicca but the electronic versions had increased overnight and I should have  bought them yesterday....I'll see if they come down in price tomorrow.  I just find the Kiindle easier to handle and I can adjust the font.  Robo did his stuff around five thirty and then I made beans on toast for supper, sat eating it watching television, now to top up the fire for tonight and then I shall be going to bed around nine tonight since it's the warmest place.  LN......Roll on Wednesday when that sun is due to shine again.......LN

Tuesday 25th February

Cloudy start this morning but at least we had some sun this afternoon.  It came out just after I'd lit the fire.  Not much activity today, the internet was down, I phoned at lunchtime and they said that it would be off for a couple of hours or so, so I phoned at five and they said that they would tell the 'boys' that I hadn't internet even though it had been restablished for the rest of the world.  I understood that they were sending someone out and at seven no one had arrived so I climbed the stairs very gingerly, still had that orange light on the router after several attemps, gave up, came downstairs clinging on to the handrails.  The internet has just sprung to life, WhatsApp has sent me through what was in the pipeline so I have now work to do.

Other than that I've had a good morning and afternoon.  I managed to break down the barrier between the winter and summer lounges and went in to draw the curtains over the picture windows in the summer lounge.  I noticed black cat up on the outdoor sofa and tomorrow I'll probably manage to get some food out to her since she seems to like it here.  I also drew the small curtains over the old window between the lounge and the stairwell to stop the movement of air.  I've also taken a few steps without the frame today....I don't want to overdo it but I need to keep active....those new muscles have got to be able to stretch.

LN....I'm now going to see if the connection to the internet is for real.....Yellowstone is calling me on Netflix......LN

Wednesday 26th February

Slept well and woke up firstly at five thirty but managed to get off again until just before eight.  There was wall to wall fog with no hint of the sun that was promised by the weather forecasters....but it did eventually appear around twelve thirty.  I had a morning of tidying up and generally moving stuff and settled on the sofa with my book after I'd lit the fire.  It wasn't a big one but it did shove the temperature up in the house to eighteen so not too bad for sitting around in....I've had worse.

I put the radio on and something urged me to make fried bread.  I found bacon in the freezer and I had eggs so I thawed out the bacon, fried it and a slice of bread and dropped an egg in the pan and salivated while it was cooking.  I found the remnants of a bottle of HP sauce in the cupboard, didn't use it all, it lives to fight another day.  I enjoyed my breakfast sitting at the table in the kitchen and after that did a thorough clean of the kitchen, washed anything that needed washing and then went back to reading my book lying in the sun.  I'm still reading the Egypt book about the early dynasties and even though it's really hard going and there is no way that I shall remember the names and I have to keep looking at the map to see where the different tribes set out from on the assaults on Egypt.

At one I'd had enough and settled down on the sofa and went to sleep for an hour or so, the fire was lingering but it didn't warrant any more logs, I'm still trying to economise and I didn't relight it until almost five thirty and it's going well now.  I made a sandwich of local sausages and had them with tomato sauce, they were a little bit gristly and a few chips of bone that I managed to isolate in my mouth and take them out.  Some of the local food is a little suspect and I'm sure they didn't come from Lidl.  Enough for tonight, I'm now going back to Yellowstone on Netflix.  It was recommended to me and despite the fact that I don't really like cowboy stuff, the story line is good.  

Having a strange on with my phone.  I had a message from the garage telling me that they were trying to contact me and that it just kept ringing.....it was there....but not here.  I checked out the settings and it was showing my local SIM as being inactive so I restarted the phone and then it sprung into action but again I've just had a message in WhatsApp that showed five unread messages with the same issue.  LN....It never rains but it pours....something else to spend time on......LN

Thursday 27th February

Slept well again last night, it wasn't so cold today and that's something to be grateful for.  I did the usual chores, again succumbed to bacon, egg and fried bread and then set about preparing tonights supper putting potatoes, red onions with tomato paste and curry powder into the slow cooker.  I turned it to high and then place a chicken leg on top of it and then it could do its own thing until later in the day.

I read for quite some time in the sun, I've worked up the determination to finish this book about Egypt.  It's moving closer to end of BC and the beginning of the other and a thought struck me.....who decided when the numbering system would be formulated.  I gave up on that after about an hour and tidied around, I was planning a shower and hairwash but that idea went out of my head pretty quickly....better nearer the weekend when I have visitors.  I saw black cat on the terrace but it was pretty determined to get where it appears to be sleeping.  I've got the remains of the chicken leg for it for tomorrow and have put it ready in a dish to put outside when I get out and about with my frame.  I managed to bring enough wood into the house and the fire it pumping out heat as we speak....four logs at a time suspended from the frame so there's not much downward pressure on me and I just pick it up and walk.....I doubt the specialist would approve but it's either that or develop frost bite...and can't have that.

Yellowstone appears to have finished but I guess there must be another series in the pipeline....it seemed to finish abruptly.  I've half watched The Darkest Hour and will be going back to it when I've posted.  It's eight my time, the evenings seem long and that's because I'm not really up to much,  Sitting hurts my bottom and standing hurts my lower back and legs so am interspersing the activities.  LN......Enough for tonight, only a couple of pictures......need a fresh outlook ......LN

Friday 28th February

Slept OK until seven this morning.  Lit the fire, it was a dull, cold morning and I'd promised myself a shower and hairwash yesterday and in the absence of keeping my promise to myself, I was going to have to carry it out today hence the fire to dry off in comfort.  I'd got the beach chair in the bathroom, took off my clothes and put them in the laundry basket ready for the washing machine, the chair was cold so I ended up negotiating the chair, the walking frame, shampoo and conditoner bottles that were nearing the end of their lives so brought reserves into play.  Eventually I managed to put the bath towel round me, the second one went round my hair and I used the walker to get out of the bathroom and into the lounge and stood in front of the fire.  I'd put my next lot of clothes ready to put on so sat on the sofa so that I could put the clothes on without falling over.  Next step was to collect the clothes from the bathroom and put them in the machine, start it, put the airer up ready for them to go on when the machine finished and when I checked the time......it was still only eight thirty.

My hair has taken ages to dry, I have two hairdryers but they are upstairs and today wasn't the day, I'd over exerted myself enough.  I made coffee, hung up the washing and took the coffee into the lounge, sorted out my hair towelling it dry as best I could, put more fuel on the fire and hunger drove me back to the kitchen.  I made a bacon sandwich, back to the lounge and put on BBC Sounds.....my recently acquired companion.  I topped up the log baskets from the supplies in the conservatory and brough in enough to last me the day and still got enough for tomorrow.

I finished the Egypt book on the Kindle....the last one hundred pages was taken up with photographs, acknowledgements and sources.  I checked out the Kindle books and saw that the book series that I'd got paperbacks of were on offer so I bought the four of them and got them send down to my Kindle.  I must have read the originals around ten years ago so don't remember the stories in detail so they should be still new to me.  I started the first one and with the fire going had a very pleasant afternoon and when I was feeling sleepy, I settled down on the sofa under a blanket and was out for an hour or so and then back to my book.  I went back to my book, had an online conversation with the garage, made tuna mayo and toast for supper, washed up so that it's all clear in the kitchen.  The laundry on the airer I dragged into the lounge so that it will finish drying and air overnight.

I've just started a new series on Netflix, I think it's called Black Dove and still not sure if I'm enjoying it or not.  Goodbye February, it's been a long hard slog but I've become quite ingenious in managing to find different ways to do things and at times quite inventive.  Baba Marta day tomorrow and I have a visitor and some of the neighbours might also be round.  I haven't any new wristbands to offer up this year so I'm going to have a search for some old, but unused ones that I can hand out if the need be.  LN....I've managed to do some walking without the framd today....not a lot but every little bit helps towards me being mobile again......LN