Building up

It's amazing how mild -8C can seem after a day of -14C. Who knows, before the day is out, maybe a little snow might have disappeared.

We meanwhile are busy on building up the internal fires. After a couple of days of chillied meals we're going for more traditional British fuel, a chicken & vegetable pie. It's all made up now, ready for the oven this evening.

This afternoon we're off to the Farmers' Market to collect some pork we've ordered for the Christmas period. The market usually is on from 10-2, but this one, as they did last year, is on from 1-6pm. In many ways this is a lot more convenient for us. The market is held in a church hall nearly two thirds of the way to the Pub, so we may even go on to there afterwards. I've got to get the final seating & food orders in for the Christmas meal we're having there on Monday.

Monday should be a lively evening. There's 13 of us booked. Linda, Dave C's widow, is bringing along her new boyfriend. I should think it would be quite intimidating for him. We can be a rowdy lot at the best of times. Linda seems quite serious on him so I do hope all goes well. In her mid-50s & full of life, Linda is far too young to spend the rest of her life mourning Dave. She'll never forget him & she knows he wouldn't want her to be miserable for the rest of her days.