Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Brilliant, AR, they would definitely bring a smile to my face if I found one of them   

pink_poppy

How on earth did I forget I was gifted this a couple of years ago - gorse flower gin... also known as mother’s ruin (gin in general, not this particular brand)... 😉😋

pink_poppy

And while I’m on my phone, this sorry specimen is my poor Calamondin...

twopenny

Arch support insoles, Trespass. £10'99 cut to fit. Very good but sold out even online.

Love those Arbs! The subject matter makes me smile.

Poppy , that does look poorly. I think it's something to do with drafts or fluctuating temps. I had one or two years ago and managed to hang on to the second one longer.
The branches look ok though. Hope....

Dusty, sounds about right.
Gorse path puttsborough beach over the point to Saunton sands. Wonderful smell of almonds.
Wouldn't recommend it in this weather though  . 

YoungBlueEyes

I like your grumpy stones too Arb, it'd make me smile if I found one  

The sun ain't anywhere near over the yardarm, but your gorse flower gin looks delish pp, I might have a look for some. Oh and here's a barmaid's tip - always drink gin with soda. The flavours and botanicals of most gins are very carefully balanced and delicate, tonic is too strongly flavoured to properly compliment it. Soda makes it a long drink without upsetting that balance 

The water's all but disappeared from my garden now thank god, I didn't want it still sat there when the minus temps come (which they've knocked on into next week now). God know what shape my bulbs would be in after all that! 

Really quite cool out there this morning, top temp today is 5 but feels like 0 cos of the wind. Still relatively low humidity so I've another wash on. Bright with it though

pink_poppy

It's not my favourite gin (which is why there's still some left after 2 years haha) it's quite bitter tasting. I would normally drink gin with tonic, but I know what you mean about tonic being quite strong tasting itself, so can understand how that would interfere with the gin.  I'll try it with soda next time. I do drink tonic on it's own every night for the quinine as it's supposed to help with cramps, which I get a lot of.

It's another frosty morning here and I have icy tentacles on my windows again. I've fed the birds and just have to empty the ice water dish and refill...

Dustyevsky

Brightening-up after a grey start, but the Exeter inebriates say it will feel like -4c in the moderate wind.

I was seeing double with your gorse gin, poppy! I think your Calamondin will be OK, but it'll change its leaves for sure.

twopenny said:

Gorse path puttsborough beach over the point to Saunton sands. Wonderful smell of almonds.
Wouldn't recommend it in this weather though  .

I make that about 10km, so a bit outside my current range, which I'm hoping isn't permanent. So, maybe an early summer foray. 

I like Arb's stones too. My grandchildren would love to find one of those. They do a bit of Pokemon hunting and geocaching.

Saw dire warnings about next week's weather on one of the news channels, but it doesn't look like that here. Cold, yes, though in January that's expected, isn't it? Perhaps they mean you guys 'oop norf' are going to be in earning your lower house prices!

pink_poppy

Lower house prices?? I wish. It’s more expensive here than when I was ‘oop north east’ 😕 although prices have actually risen a lot since I left there - my old house is probably worth at least £100k more now - bloomin’ typical. Anyway I think we pay more in heating costs up here 🥶😂 talking of which, we’re burning larch logs at the moment because that’s all we could get and it’s lasting no time at all... 😕

I took a pic of my parent rhubarb this morning. The relocated babies are non-existent - it’s a case of ‘move along, there’s nothing to see here’...

Frosty parent rhubarb...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Lower house prices?? I wish. It’s more expensive here than when I was ‘oop north east’ 😕 although prices have actually risen a lot since I left there - my old house is probably worth at least £100k more now - bloomin’ typical. Anyway I think we pay more in heating costs up here 🥶😂 talking of which, we’re burning larch logs at the moment because that’s all we could get and it’s lasting no time at all... 😕

Ah, well, you're in a touristy bit. If we could somehow move this place down near Dartmouth or Kingsbridge, it would be worth £300k more. The first property we tried to buy in Devon was near Dartmouth, and it was top of our budget. The owners withdrew it. We were upset at the time, but now we realise it would have been wrong for us. Too many grockles and sailor types.

Larch isn't the best. Lots around, as it's suffered from phytop  a disease. It's needed clearing from some forests here. We get mainly ash, oak, beech, and birch. Locally, there's a heap of beech and oak trees coming to the end of their lives, unfortunately. One large beech nearly had an acquaintance during storm Henk, but it was daytime, so he saw it was falling and jammed his brakes on just in time.

If it's any consolation, your rhubarb looks very like my rhubarb, down here in the softie south!

Farway

Actual real snow this morning, white cars and grass, still there in the shaded bits' but sun's out now, blooming cold though, with a bitter wind

twopenny said:

Children and others still paint stones to find but less so now. They've started crayoning en masse on beach pebbles which looks more like vandalism....about them, not the recipient.

Farway, couldn't you use the pebble in with plain ones as a decoration in the border?

Good idea, if it's still there next visit I'll move it to a pot near the main door. There are no pebbles in the borders and one lone one would be hidden.

Like the grumpy ones Arbs.

Garden is still bleak, and now it's very cold I'm not going out there today. The Best I can do is sort some seeds out now I've emptied the Christmas Quality Street midget "tin"