A bit of integrity

The surveyor has just been from the bathroom specialists. I suddenly feel so much more knowledgeable about what I'm looking for & what to avoid. That's not to say we will necessarily go with this company. I am keen to see the designs he's drawing up. I remain absolutely convinced of the need for a wet room floor rather than a shower tray. After that there's a lot to discuss with the Fox.

Yesterday we got down to the Farmer's market. We asked whether the usual stall we get our meat from did poultry for Christmas. We were thinking of maybe trying a fresh goose. We're nearly out of goose fat for the roast potatoes. Admittedly we could just buy a jar of fat, but, as it's that time of year, we thought we might treat ourselves for once with an actual bird.

Unfortunately he didn't. Turkeys & chickens, yes. In previous years he has done geese but not this year. His usual supplier has ceased doing them himself. This supplier could get some for Mr Lamb, our man, but then there would be double the mark up on them which Mr Lamb feels is ridiculous, too much to charge his customers. On top of that he likes to pick the live birds he wants, so he can be confident of their quality. He couldn't do that if his source is getting them dead from another party. He was most apologetic. We assured him that we appreciated him for his integrity. We're now wondering whether we should try a fresh turkey instead. We've certainly ordered some belly pork for the December market.

Mentioning geese, I've just been round to the compost heap with my potato peelings. I suddenly heard a lot of honking. My eyes scanned the sky. Nothing, except dense cloud. I moved around so the sky was no longer so obscured by the trees. Sure enough, there were the Vs of geese. For once they were flying south, rather than the usual northwards they seem to go at this time of year. I wonder what that presages. Bad weather? Snow certainly seems to have hit much of this country, even though we've so far escaped it. We've just been freezing with temperatures of around -10C instead.