Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

You've been having a good and sucessful time with the photos Poppy

love the swans esp.

Meant to say - talking of stars - there was some special star gazing to be had, think tonight is the last/best night. Look at the handle of the plough past the next constellation and at a cluster. Should be on the horizon

Half way down this about the crescent moon

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rqe2ndl0lo

pink_poppy

Well, the earth moved for me last night... we had a wee earthquake!! DH and I were sat watching TV when we suddenly heard a very loud rumble (sounded like very heavy furniture being moved/falling over in the house) and we even felt it through the settee   We both jumped up and had a look around, but couldn't see anything, so we carried on watching our programme. About 40 minutes later I went on FB and there were loads of people from miles around saying they had heard/felt it and it turned out to be a 2.9 magnitude earthquake. I certainly didn't expect that!!    

We've had some lovely starry nights, twopenny, but it was cloudy on and off last night and the moon looked like it was hiding behind a veil. I meant to look at the app/website that Less mentioned - I can usually name the obvious planets and constellations, but I would love to know more.

In less exciting news, it's in the minuses here this morning, with a very hard frost. I'm hoping for some solar heat, as it's only 12 degrees in the front room (and that's with the storage heater on overnight) Brr...

greenbee

I think you probably need to prioritise investing in your heating PP! 12C is NOT warm. Mind you, there's a 'living without heating' thread on the Energy board which you might also find useful

twopenny

5c this morning but dry with a southerly wind and bright!

Lovely start to the day, unlike Poppys. Darn that's cold even for me

My crow was there to say good morning so a nice start........considering I've got some confronting to do about the car and heating.

Thought I might even get into the garden.

It's rained again of course so no gardening.

I wonder if we had repercussions from the earth quake? Sudden noise from the corner of the room last night like someone using a hand saw and a gnawing noise. First thought neighbour but at 10pm? he doesn't do anything anytime. Dashed out in my pyjamas to see if it was rats or cats in the garage. Could have been something with claws loosing it's footing on the roof I suppose.

Bluey, small area where the trades all know each other and have more rewarding work to do that deal with the general public so it's a case of treading carefully these days to get anything done. But they are on the whole a decent bunch. This one was a bit rigid for me but they did offer to bring anything down from the loft I needed knowing I'm scuppered at the mo.

OK, off to get the nasty bits done.........tomorrow first swim since before Christmas and hair cut. I've had to wait 8weeks for that. Nearly got a pony tail

ArbitraryRandom

I think it's been about 6 years since I had a haircut. Last time I had one they took off about 2 foot for making wigs for cancer patients I think? Not quite at that level yet, so I'll just have to wait I guess (I hate the whole experience, so any excuse...)

This morning was a bit warmer. Warmer of course being relative. Wet, but I think rain overnight as the sky started grey but is slowly turning misty blue. 

I'm on a train for 6 hours again tomorrow (back on Friday) so fire lit early to try and get my last minute washing properly try dry to pack. I was 'organised' and did a wash last week, but I realised yesterday very little of that load was actually what I needed to pack! My head just isn't with it this week  

In other news, no spend Jan is going well. Mostly because I'm still having the things I ordered in December delivered... I'm deleting unread the 1001 emails I'm being sent about plant and seed bundles (and firmly resisting any farway related temptation ). Biggest issue is that I don't think I'm going to have enough milk to last to the end of the month. May have to switch to coffee  

Heating wise, my thermostat/bedroom tends to be around 12 - I don't like to be warm when I sleep and anything above 10 is good, so have the radiator in the room turned off (and when it's dry, the window open). But the heat from the rest of the house (especially the fire) circulates and keeps the air feeling warm enough. Plus it's balmy in the lounge (and my home office, directly above the lounge). It's around 24 in here right now (I'm in a t-shirt) and can be uncomfortably warm if I've not been paying attention to the vents. 

Farway

It rained all day yesterday, and it's only just stopped now, so very soggy outside.

Luckily I'm not in a flood prone area, maybe the odd blocked drain, and my garage has waterfalls pumping out of the bricks, presumably it blocks the natural downhill flow?

Not a problem for me, car is on tyres & once I realised I make sure nothing is on garage floor that will worry about water.

No stars, moon, planets, or auroras to be seen here

More cracking photos PP, and rare UFO sightings. I've always wondered where the odd item of clothing came from, like that one Mona sock, where is its sibling?

And the squirrel I can imagine doing just that.

twopenny said:

.I love a real fire and heat but I seem to remember how wonderful it was to get a gas fire when I wasn't dusting and clearing out ashes all the time. Woodlice under every piece of furniture

I am semi serious about moving again. It was the original plan before the pandemic and loosing one neighbour, two more who are lovely are thinking of moving, two actually are and it's broken up the lovely community. There is no one out and about now. Quiet is lovely but it's become deadly empty. This house has been nothing but trouble. Perhaps a new start.

Managed to get my mostly dead onion sets in today as it was light till 5 despite the cloud. Might as well, you never know what the current rain will do for them.

Ahh, I remember that great [grate] day when I took out the coal fire & a brand new Flavell Debbonaire went in, loved it, we sat in front watching in awe as the thermostat raised & lowered the flames.

Best of all, we could be very posh & have our wooden Flying Saucer ciggy light on top

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-1960s-uk-flavel-debonair-gas-fire-magazine-advert-85335968.html

Good luck with any house hunting, no doubt the onion sets will thrive if you decide to move

Earthquakes PP, whatever next. I've not seen anything on the news, and hope it was not tiny claws you heard. Aren't some animals supposed to sense when disasters are due?

Hope your travel turn out well Arbs, and there are only Car Parkiii varieties to tempt you while away

Blue sky has appeared , still soggy though so nil gardening

twopenny

Farway that sounds a bit drastic waterfalls in the garage............

We;ve had hail now. Even the pigeons looked surprised.

So that's sun, rain and hail with a stiff wind that's not as mild as it was.

Off to put my thicker thermals on.

pink_poppy

greenbee, our electricians don't return from their Christmas break until next Monday, but don't worry, I fully intend contacting them next week. I'll have to look at that 'living without heating' thread. In the meantime, the front room is up to 13.4 degrees, thanks to a bit of sun   

twopenny, the earthquake was around 8.44pm here. Btw, at first glance I thought you were off to put your thermal knickers on    

Farway, it made the Scottish news...

Earthquake shakes homes on west coast of Scotland - BBC News

Waterfalls in your garage doesn't sound good   We've got mould on the ceiling in our garage, which I think is due to a leak in the roof. Something else to sort this year.

AR, two foot of hair?! Wow!! Lovely to donate it to charity   I hate getting my hair cut too (only mere inches here though).
I wish our fire warmed the rest of the house...

ArbitraryRandom

Morning all. No land movement here (thankfully!) but typically wet and windy. Recycling has just been collected and I've got about an hour before I need to go to the station, so I'm at a bit of a lost end waiting. Don't want to get to the station too early as it's fairly exposed, but also don't want to miss the train Might spend a minute digging out my bigger coat, just in case. 

Thinking what I might want the gardener to help me with this month. Apparently the seed pots I ordered last year are going to be dispatched tomorrow, so should be here by the time I get back - probably too early to plant them out as yet though. Might be good to get the pots sorted/half full, so I can just pop them in when I'm ready. I also think I need to replace the compost heap this year - I've got four pallets I've been stashing, so if anyone has any simple designs they'd like to share? 

Dustyevsky

The earth isn't moving here, but at least the weekend computer gremlins appear to have chosen to annoy someone else now. Maybe it was such dire weather, all the computers in our little enclave were stretching Openreach's tin cans and bit of string!   

I'm doing a lot of paperwork nonsense at present, and I've fallen behind with contributions, so in case I don't reappear today, here's our first rainbow of 2025, snapped hurriedly yesterday. I only got 2 shots, and one of those was blurred.

The pot of gold's in the field across the road, apparently. I hope that doesn't mean the farmer is about to sell it for a new housing estate!