Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

(Blogger keeps having trouble showing this photo but if you click on its square it'll come up big for you)

-This was the laurel in our garden, Sunday morning. It has finally gone cold here! We have no heating and we've chased up the heating guy again, hoping for a 'diagnostic visit'. It is hard to get a plumber to actually diagnose and fix a heating system these days; most of the ones we've tried look at it for all of 2 minutes, then 'prescibe' a whole new heating system for thousands of pounds.

We have bought a new cylinder, a new thermastat, washed the system through and bled radiators. We have hot water ("OH THANK GOD!!!!") but no heat.

So! we have a couple of plug-in heaters which I am carrying from room to room. We do have a fire as well, though what it has in ornament it lacks in throwing-out-heat ability, it being quite big room.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am wearing 2 jumpers, 2 pairs of socks and a scarf. The cold has woken up my arthritis. I envy hedgehogs their hibernation instinct.

Hope you are keeping warm!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took these at 8am today.
This is the back garden from the back of the house.
It isn't snow: that's frost!

I had put out some food for the birds, as well as getting the ice out of their birdbaths and re-filling, with tepid water. You can still see the ice that I removed from the birdbath yesterday and the day before- it's been too cold for it to melt!This is one of a lot of cheeky chappies we get.
We have about 9 blackbirds visiting us regularly, though I've counted 11 in the tree at the same time. This is unusual as they're a territorial bird most of the time. I think they're putting up with each other in the cold, as they know there is a regular good source of food nearby. Most of them are male, I've only ever seen two females at the same time.Here you can see our Christmas Tree! Still in its pot, I water it regularly but leave it here on the decking. My plan is to put it in a big terrocotta pot when it's warmer. I'd love to plant it out but the garden isn't really big enough for a Norway Spruce!The spruce looks like it's covered in snow. I think it's whispering to itself, "Wow! I'm a real Christmas tree at last! At last!"

Hmmm... I guess I should have put that washing line away.... hey ho!

I don't mind it being cold, so long as the sky is bright and blue. I hope it warms up for the wee birdees soon though.