To be, or not to be?

The writer in me has lost focus, drive and determination recently. To be honest, the knitter, dyer, housekeeper, cook, seamstress and communicator in me has lost focus, drive and determination recently. Since the bout of flu I had before Christmas, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time ruminating and cogitating over what the next step [...]

Pinch, punch, first of the month, no return!

How did that rhyme start? Was it just a way to make people remember that the month had changed?? In which case, someone needs to give me a substantial injury on the first day of a new year, as I regularly write the old year on letters and cheques for months into a new year! [...]

Surely it’s not November already?

I could have been forgiven for mistaking today for a November day. This morning, driving across Cardiff before breakfast, it was dark, damp, miserable, windy and generally as unlike a typical August day as I have ever seen. I was wearing a jumper under my coat, for goodness’ sake! Whinge over. I’m sure the ground [...]

Global warming, and why I’m not moving south anytime soon

Crunchy Chicken today posted a link to, and a blogpost about a very interesting article in the New Scientist magazine, offering an opinion on what the world would look like if the overall temperature of the world were to increase by just 4°. It’s very interesting reading, and makes me extremely glad to be already living as near [...]

Severn Crossings closed

There are two bridges across the River Severn, connecting England and South Wales. One is only about fifteen years old, the other just over fifty years old and I’ve travelled on both of them a number of times, especially since living in Cardiff. The first bridge fairly regularly closes due to adverse weather conditions (e.g. [...]

Winter weather forecast

So, I’ve been looking at the UK Meteorological Office’s website to see what their long term weather forecast is for the coming winter months. Apparently, we are in for a winter which is colder than last year, but drier. Cold, I can handle. Extra jumpers, scarves, mittens and gloves can all help deal with that. [...]

Definition of Summer

My cold has come back again, and my head feels very bunged up. It is very cold and grey outside, and slightly misty. I was absolutely worn out when I woke up, which is all wrong, and even a ‘bracing’ walk to school and back did nothing to make me more alert. I am most [...]

Being glad about the rain

Along the lines of a post which I wrote not so long ago about being more positive about things outside my control, I thought that I should really get myself in a better frame of mind about the wet weather which is, by all accounts returning for a good long stay this week. Hmm, this [...]

Cold Snap

As the first cold mornings of Autumn start to arrive, it reminds me of what needs to be done before the winter sets in. Last year we replaced our extremely draughty aluminium framed single glazed windows with uPVC double glazing. We noticed such a difference once the steady current of cold air stopped circulating around [...]

Autumn approaches

It’s a glorious day here, and unusually for South Wales this is the second nice sunny day in a row! I honestly can’t remember the last time that we had two lovely days in a row, which either speaks volumes for my mental state or for the climate this summer! Despite the sunshine (for which [...]