test please delete

[WTFH]

Morning all
Not as cold overnight, so only very slippy in places on our walk.

TFIF.etc

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

Clear blue sky and expected to be sunny once the sun gets high enough, but it's a cold one: currently -4°C and expected to dip to -5° within the next hour or so, before rising to a high of 1° in the early afternoon. The barometers are up some more to 1007/1015mB

Given the extreme chilliness, I've decided to postpone any IRL shopping activities to this afternoon

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Friday.

Grey.

Frosty.

Dry.

Sunless.

Cold in here at 9.7 deg, 7 deg in the kitchen, 5 deg in the leanto, 2.5 deg in the saltinghouse.

1015 mBar, 29.97 in Hg, 761.31 Torr, 14.72 psi, (up from 1014 last night), 58% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 18th of December 2019 Brillo's diet had turned vegan due to visitor, BR14 condemned this, I was watching yet more Angel, though the commentary on one nearly sent me to sleep, whereas NF was watching, yes, The Wire, LM was worrying about HMRC and VAT MTD, and WTFH had bloody fingers from guitar playing. .

Poor night's sleep: I think I read rather too much Asimov yesterday.

Walk (unabbreviated) walked in the grey gloom. Spotted a woodpecker whilst on the trudge.

Lunch: brunch.

Entertainment: R4 thing about Islamaphobia.

TWATO.

Freecell score: 89%, running average:81%.

Tea: chicken in white sauce etc.

Entertainment: PM.

Railway thing.

Freecell score (W95): 78%, running average: 86%.

Lucy Worsley waffling on about Guido Fawkes, Robert Catesby etc.

The Lost Scrolls of Pompeii: New Revelations: one being that the scrolls are from Herculaneum.

[NickFitz]

Partial bedding wash on (mattress topper, pillow protectors)

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Crisp and clear. Some fluff about. Currently -2 ('feels like' -4) with a high of 2 expected. No precipitation forecast. Barometer up to 1019 mBar.

Sunrise 08:04; Sunset 16:15

It was -3 when I was scraping the ice off my car at 7.45 this morning. A meeting has been postponed that means I actually get to have some lunch at lunchtime today.

HWMBO will be on his way down later this afternoon and, as I'm in the area, I'll be picking him up. Last day of work for a week, as we're jetting off to Funchal on Monday, where it's 20 degrees or so.

[NickFitz]

Shopping done!

I waited until around 13:00 but the poor Corolla was still a block of ice, despite the ambient temperature being up to 1°C and it having been in direct sunlight for at least an hour. Despite that, it started first turn of the key! And then… sputtered and died

I figured this was just due to the cold and cranked it again, and it took a few seconds but then it fired up and ran OK after that. So I left it warming up while I went round scraping all the windows.

Traffic was bad going across town to Big Sainsbury's, but it gave the car plenty of opportunity to warm up properly. Once the shopping was done it started first time again, and also after I'd filled up.

So although I still think there's a possibility the solenoid on the starter motor may be on the way out, the car seems OK for now

Lunch has been a couple of garlic and herb chicken thighs from the still-slightly-warm food counter, with a bag of plain crisps

And when I went down to the car, I scattered a load of mixed nuts in their shells (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts) over where the squirrels seemed to be concentrating their attentions, and a load of peanuts in their shells over where the corvids had been hanging out shortly before, as apparently they like them and can easily get into the shell. Unless the crows and magpies came back sharpish, the squirrels will have had those too I expect. But with luck everybody got something suitable

[DoctorStrangelove]

^^^ Millenni Om

[NickFitz]

Tea has been spag bol

This was accompanied by Trucking Hell, the last of the extant episodes. I'll have to find something else to watch

It feels like it's been quite a productive day, all in all. This morning I dug into some SpriteKit/Gameplaykit stuff. Then I got the shopping done. And after that, back to the game stuff and tried a new approach to an idea I'd been mucking around with, which worked even better than expected! So that was gratifying

[WTFH]

Mad Max the Spannerhead was at the vet today for a routine check up. He’s now up to the correct weight for an ESS, but is more muscular and lower fat levels than average. He’s also got an umbilical hernia which probably needs an operation to fix. Apart from that, The Wife is leaving me tomorrow*


TFBSZ



*she’s off on a “work” trip to the Caribbean for 10 days.

[NickFitz]

Tonight's major motion picture premiere was The Card Counter (2021) which was good, but very, very bleak

Early night now as I have to go to the dental hygienist in the morning

Goodnight all