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We felt so replete with food on Christmas Day and Boxing Day that we only got round to our Christmas pudding last night (it's got a Best Before date of May 2022 so we didn't think there was any rush....) - we got it at the recently opened little butcher/deli in our village and it was scrumptious!
Friends of ours in a neighbouring village had severe flooding of the streets but fortunately the houses were spared. Here it started out frosty with white sparkly cars like you described, Wendy, but unfortunately it's turned to grey and mildly damp now. I'm still hoping for snow at some point, even if only a dusting!

We've had a fair bit of steady rain since Christmas, not intense enough to cause flood worries, but constant enough to be useful:
On Christmas Eve, somewhere near here a cess pit was emptied, and it obviously filled the emptying vehicle to capacity plus a bit. So, when it drove past us and had to jam it's brakes on, some of the cowpat consistency odure slopped out onto the road in a 20-30 litre gollop. Immediately up-traffic of our house. So further traffic ran through it and splattered it all over the pavement, garden wall, garage door and ran it further along the road. The smell was.. powerful and not as 'pleasant' as that of farming residue.

So Tracy & I spent the last hour of daylight on Christmas Eve cleaning what we could with a hosepipe and broom, but there was a fair bit of residue left in the crinkles of the tarmac etc, which has, fortunately been washed away now. We noticed other gollops further along the road, where the people living there didn't clean it up, and the pavement and house wall splatters are still there because they were too big to be washed away. Urk.

Today I do shredding. I managed to burn out our previous shredder motor. It was only rated for 100kg/HR and 45mm diameter branches. I think I overloaded it. We've had a new one delivered during the time I've been writing this post, and at some point I'm going to replace the motor in the old one with a cooler running industrial motor so it shouldn't ever burn out again, so when the new one burns out I can continue without delay. Oh what fun I have to look forward to!

Regards,

Richard.

When we had our septic tank emptied in France I remembered that Pong! Neighbours had theirs emptied at the same time so the air was ripe!
Thank goodness for heavy rain then.
We've had little snow here but the distant hills have a dusting.
Sunny and bright so all is well.

For any who love ballet and especially love the Nutcracker at this time of year, this 7 minute video of the "Waltz of the SnowFlakes" by the Post:Ballet is very lovely and very fitting for 2020. I don't usually watch a YouTube video longer than 3 or 4 minutes but I loved this one.

Carole

Watched the very-nearly-full moon set behind the Trossachs this morning, all pink from the sunrise.

That's funny I saw the same moon setting behind the Lammermuir hills. Wasn't it an outstanding sight?

Good to hear heavy rain has its uses, Richard.

I am doing a little happy dance because a parcel sent by a friend from the Netherlands has arrived in time for New year's Eve - it contains the ingredients for a traditional Dutch New Year's Eve treat (albeit an oven version rather than the usual deep-fried one)

Goodness me Richard - the joys of living in the countryside eh?

I saw the almost full moon last night as it rose and again this morning as it set.

I think it's a lovely thought that we are all looking at the same moon so we are all linked in a tiny way even though we have never met, it sort of brings us closer I think.

Garnet, that's so true! We've had days of cold, cold weather (for us, anyway, at least -4C last night creeping up to about 3C during the day) but no wind and bright blue skies for what passes as day up here (6 hours, just about). Stars and moon, but no northern lights here. Typical -- the one time we might see them, too. Oh, well.

Doing a Happy Dance!

After several months my Wonderful D/H has set up my desktop computer!
No more trying to log on using my phone or my Sloooow tablet!

Thank you Serinde for sorting out my 'log-in' problems!

I think every Christmas present I received this year was home made. I want to show you the one my son made for me. It’s a shelf he made from a real lobster trap. I put it upside down because I love it as an end table instead. The part that is open, is the actual “door” on the top of a trap. It closes and latches, but I opened it for the picture.

Brilliant!

Fascinating.
Not seen anything like it before. Really novel.

Regards,

Richard.

That is a lovely gift. I know you will love it. So original and so thoughtful!

Carole

We awoke to a light dusting of snow and icy roads. To be expected at this time of year. The weather forecast warned us of freezing conditions, but I guess we we lucky. By 10am the snow had all but gone and the ice melted. We were able to get out and do our shopping for the next few days.
We were expecting a parcel this afternoon....it didn't arrive, but one that was scheduled for next week did.......but not to us.
Our house is one of 17 with the same postcode and has a similar address as those others. All have the local farm name as the cottages were part of the farm estate.
The courier sent us an email that the item had been delivered. We looked out to the front, no parcel. Out at the back in the 2 outhouse sheds, no parcel. We then drove to one of the cottages with the same number as ours but no parcel nor was anyone at home.
D/ H has contacted the sale company and they say they will investigate and let us know in 2 working days. That's Tuesday next week as It's New Year and Monday is also a bank holiday.

OK rant over! D/H was really looking forward to sitting in his new computer chair. So it isn't a small parcel that is easily overlooked on someone's doorstep!!

None of the houses in our village have numbers, names only. This causes problems because there is no number progression to help the driver. There are four houses in our postcode, spread over 300 yards on both sides of the road with other postcodes between. I have once been phoned up by a bamboozled driver asking where we were. I asked him if he was parked across a green garage door, and if so, he was in the van immediately outside our house and asked why he couldn't see the 4" high house name lettering in gold and black over the front door, especially as the door is only 3ft back from the road.

Since internet shopping has become more prevalent, I do think the drivers are getting more knowledgeable.

Regards,

Richard.

Ah, the parcel game! What infinite variety it offers....

My niece in Atlanta has almost the exact same address as friends of theirs. The only difference is that hers ends with "court" and theirs ends in "drive" and the houses are similar, so that if you get an email with a picture of the delivery it doesn't help much. I think they were friends before the parcel exchange started but they would have become friendly soon enough. If a parcel is supposed to be a surprise, I notify my sister to keep an eye out so they can call their friends for late arrivals. I'm surprised there aren't more mixups than ever given how stressed delivery and postal services with the increase of online shopping in 2020.

Carole

Well, having worked as a postman for 5 years, covering both town deliveries (on foot) and rural(with van) - I have to say I realise it's not always easy to find the right address, and, mistakes are made. Certainly made my share of wrong postings, much to my chagrin, I know how irritating it can be.
So, I salute our posties, and white van men, they are doing a sterling job, in these difficult times when we rely more than ever on online shopping.

PS. And, this time of year - dark mornings, cold, and often pouring with rain, it's even more difficult to do the job, and in my day we didn't have satnav. In the summer, a rural postman has the best job in the world - paid for walking around in the countryside in the sunshine. In the winter, on a town round holding a bundle of letters in freezing hands, gloves don't' really help, pouring rain or snow, in the dark - not so good....
But, it's a job