Ah Matt

I know what you mean there. I'd been brought up as a war baby, by my mother teaching me how to cook simple good food - mince was browned quickly and then some good stock added to it and the heat turned down till it was just bubbling occasionally and it was left to cook for about 2-3 hours with a careful eye kept on it - the flavour when we ate it was wonderful and she insisted I learned to cook it the same way. It wasn't grey and in lumps due to fast boiling . I was horrified when I was in someone's house and she said she had to put the mince on for the evening meal - it was 6pm so mince was dropped in the saucepan , cold water added [ no stock cube or even decent stock ] and heat up high till it boiled and then left like that for 30 mins . She occasionally stirred it - it looked awful to my eyes

2,3 and 6 for me.

I've changed my mind three times about what 2 is and I'm still not convinced .

5 is a good shot , but I think they'll get it too easily

It's chilly here - you have to wait till brain cells heat up and start working

OOOOH Colin - that was a bad start

Glad things are on the up now

One thing Raymond and I did enjoy - watching all the workers rushing off to work in the morning and we sat back with another cup of coffee and the papers - and watching the squizzies playing up and down the trees

HOORAY - things are on the up

Sadly no men to do the new boiler [ saw then at someone who's disabled - so that's fair enough - he takes priority.

BUT most of the snow from the garden has gone - I could get into the caravan and bring out the other fan heater and 2 fleece blankets

I got Freda out , and bless her little cotton socks after one press of the button she was away so we went and bought a few more things to stock up the cupboards [ including more salt ] .

10 mins after I had got her back into the garden ans was waiting for the garage door to go up - what went past but a gritter and it was working Doesn't look good for temps tonight

Unbelieveable !!

The guys doing my installation don't want overtime to do it tomorrow It will be done [ weather permitting ] on Monday .

Oh well - let's hope the temps stay up - it's still cold but at least it's not freezing

I can now get the car out

we had enough thaw this morning so I got more snow out of the way - the thaw has certainly helped.

It did take about 3 hours to get my sitting room temp up to 60 Degrees and then I decided to go and stock up my food cupboards and staggered and slithered along the roads to Tesco - the plough yesterday made a huge difference but the stuff at the sides of the road where cars had been abandoned was now about 4 ins of ice .

Got my shopping and came home by taxi - can't carry 12Kg of dishwasher salt as well as everything else and found an OpenReach Van and engineer at my gate

He's sorted the cable so things are looking up.

Now - let's hope my new boiler has arrived so it can be installed and I can get some HEAT and hot water

Very Off Topic

Mike - I miss your cat

WOW - money arrived in a month - well Pentax obviously learned something after last year's debacle.

You can tell Cyril that that little barrel of brandy was intended to help keep me warm .

He can keep his wee paws off it - or my supply of peanuts will be eaten by ME

I'm tempted by a service contract but I have to say these guys are tremendous - with me 2 hours after I called , and it's been the same on past occasions . They are also a source for when I need folk for other jobs - my roofer was recommended by them and my decorator/plasterer / sparky is subcontracted by them at times when their own men can't cope . They know I'm on my own now and they really do try and help .

We've had a bit of a thaw , thankfully, but temps are dropping again now . It ~may ~ be possible to get the Freelander out tomorrow so I'll try and stock up some salt and food if I can. I'm OK for food , but bread and milk are running out - and they aren't on the shelves in the shops either