Good old Tom - - - & - - - Retire at 70 on the cards

Enjoy the day – Enjoy the weather 

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LOCAL WEATHER NOW AND FORECAST FOR TODAY

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MET O rain view 

The Met O rain view has some blobs on it but even going forward 1 hour most of them dissipate.  So maybe another dry day? 

With a hint of it getting colder we beat the 5 point something Temps of recent days! 

07:10 Dawn struggling up now and half and half cloud and clear this morning  as the temp has dropped to 2.7 from the one recorded just about half an hour ago.  

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Local weather today 

Dry and cloudy at first, then sunny spells developing this afternoon. However, it will remain chilly. The cold feel will be enhanced by the brisk easterly wind, with a top temp of 5 falling to zero later "unusual for daytime" winds above 400m will be 30 becoming 20 mph later. 
Yahoo weather has:  Today - Partly cloudy with a high of 43 °F (6.1 °C). Winds variable at 2 to 9 mph (3.2 to 14.5 kph).
Tonight - Clear. Winds variable. The overnight low will be 28 °F (-2.2 
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This Mail story  backs up the Express headline below with a warning we might have the coldest night in Britain.  The truth is there might be band of cloud in the North of the country that might limit the dramatic plunge in the overnight temp.  The story does however mention -5c for the west midlands and thats not too far away - - - 

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Yesterday, finally my duvet arrived, yes on a Sunday, after checking early in the morning on the Yodel site to see it was still in the Alfreton depot i was surprised when Sally mentions later that its "out for delivery", and surely enough at 12:35 it was delivered! 

I was once again beavering away in the bathroom sorting out the studding return behind the loo.  This has been bar far the biggest challenge of the project and one we will be glad to see the back of when the cladding panels finally go up.  We are planning to do this before the rest of the walls hoping that it will be a case of, the most challenging bit first! - - - 

I had been out early in the morning to feed the fish and birds and as usual popped into the lower greenhouse to see how the delicate garden pot plants were fairing.  

We had moved the bird food into that greenhouse not long ago because of the rat visitation in the upper one. 

 i noticed some sunflower seed husks on the floor behind the bags

sure enough a mouse had discovered the "prize" and nibbled a small hole in the bag!  A plan to move them, into a spare dustbin is afoot! 

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I started the day with a bit of a Round Robin walk 

 looking up towards Peak Tor i mused that it is far too warm for the time of year, the current reports in the papers might make me eat my words ! 

 I must have walked this route a thousand times but its beauty and the views always make me pause and take them in

 its a grey day view from almost the highest point on the walk

 as i reach it and the pond some of the cloud is breaking up, as forecast 

 at the golf course looking up the valley toward Haddon gaps in the cloud look promising for later with a patch of sunshine on the hillside at the far right of the photo

 even the view to the South is brightening up

 the ducks on the Wye look like they are gathered for a conference.  Its unusual to see so many together in this backwater 

 my usual cross river view by the pine tree looks good

 Looking across the river to the meadow i catch a solitary crow flying by

 kicking the leaf cover i find my marker for the spring and summer Ransom photos.  The leaf cover on the area is quite significant now

the river level has fallen a little as can be seen in the exposure of the outfall debris from the stream, i ponder, does the stream have a name? 

finally a view over the river, those leaves on the left are hanging on grimly now, to the meadow and the nine ladies hill before returning home for a cuppa. 

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just one more job for Sunday

 we have had 3 small bags of daffodil bulbs in the lower greenhouse for a while and planned to put them in yesterday.  In the gathering gloom of late afternoon we quickly dug a couple of trenches and got them in the ground before they start to grow in the bags! 

Sally's shot of the garden has a green theme on the left and a definite dead zebra grass straw colour on the right, might get a decent frost photo tomorrow! 

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Finally today is the anniversary date of Tom's death.  We have had many cats and they all have their individual characters but a special place in my heart will always be reserved for Tom 

 He was a stray who turned up on Christmas day 1996 and moved in with our other 2 cats not long after.  We had him many many years and he was the guardian of the local patch, to which his raggy ears and many visits to the vets with war wounds can confirm.  We were around thankfully when he suffered some kind of stroke and I held him as the visiting vet put him to sleep.  "Good old Tom" - - - 

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The papers  

The banners have Harry in a castro tribute dispute and a warning that Britain will be colder than Iceland, it is winter though! 

The pension shock story focuses around the retirement age being hiked to 70  like we haven't sen that coming foe a long time - - - the talk ovber the past years surely makes everyone realise that 3 into 2 wont go on the OAP pot question - - - 

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While most "experts" were looking the other way, to Iceland, a huge volcano in Mexico blows its top  - - - cool photos - - - 
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