Sushi For Breakfast

I went into town today, as we have always said. In other words, I went into the city centre to do some Christmas shopping. I went on the bus, having originally planned this so I'd be out of the way while my road is closed for resurfacing. However, that's been delayed until Monday so I'll have to leave early for work.

I managed to get the things I wanted - Christmas cards, an advent calendar, a 2017 diary - plus a few other bargains from Wilko including blueberry shower gel and Vimto lipbalm. I also visited the art gallery for their Brick Wonders exhibition - basically lots of Lego recreations of famous world vistas and other things, such as our local cathedral, the International Space Station, and a massive Lego airport.

Am also wondering if I've got a cold coming or if this is just the effects of the weather getting colder but not cold enough to be into a regular routine with the central heating. I've been putting it on for about an hour most evenings, and I've had the fire on a few times also. It's the beginning of half term week here now and I'm determined that winter cannot be sighted until half term is well and truly behind us.

Also last night saw the first episode of QI's N series, the first edition with Sandi Toksvig in the chair instead of Stephen Fry. I do miss Stephen and I think I always will, but Sandi is awesome.

Day 361 As you can see, we're definitely not in Northeastern USA because what little snow remains is now thawing steadily:



This is a view of the conservatory roof, which a few days ago was a soft sheet of white snow. Now, my Firefox add-on tells me it's 3 degrees, which is the warmest it's been for over a week. We're supposed to get some more snow tonight I think, but nowhere near the amount they first predicted, that's if it actually reaches us which is also up for debate.

My cold continues to be interesting, the decongestants are working excellently but still the coughing into the small hours. Slept 4.30am-11.30am straight through this morning, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Day 351 We had our Christmas lunch from work today. This was my Secret Santa gift:



So that's a Christmas Pud, Gingerbread House and Sugar Plum Fairy fizzy-splashy-bath things. They're currently on the windowsill (in their separate bags) making my room smell lovely.

Our meal was delish, the place was really lovely (except I was near the fire doors so I got a bit of a whistling draft, but it's preferable to being too hot) and the staff were very good. It was snowy enough to be picturesque over that side of town, but our main road outside our home is slushy and icy. I hope it'll be OK for me to venture out to work at least one of the two days I'm in next week, so that I can go to Sainsburys. We're due for some more snow over the weekend but it's likely we'll miss out on the worst of it.

Day 341 It was so pretty today, seriously frosty, seriously cold, and a bright blue sky for most of the day. I took some more photos at work, although I forgot to take my proper camera with me - but hope you like:



This is a closeup of one of the bushes by the back door at work. I took lots more pics around the site, you can see them here. I only stayed out until my fingers started to get too cold, one of the disadvantages of a touchscreen is that you can't wear gloves. It was around -7°C this morning when I left for work and it briefly reached a high of -1°C.

Day 332 The snow is fading away from the critical areas such as main roads, while still leaving some to look picturesque. It's too cold for much of it to melt.



The weather forecast is for lots more cold weather. The only concern I have is for icy roads, but aside from more snow expected midweek for everyone, it's supposed to stay dry. Our main road has plenty of potholes and cracks already, the cold weather is bound to make them worse. But as long as the roads are still driveable I'm OK with the cold.

Day 296 It keeps raining here. In really heavy bursts, too heavy to be classed as showers.



My Christmas cards from Save The Children arrived yesterday. So did a Christmas catalogue from Hotel Chocolat. They're doing an all-milk chocolate advent calendar this year so I might buy one. If I do (or probably whatever advent calendar I end up getting) there will be lots of December pics of chocolates, so be warned :)

Day 238 I received my official certificate from Uni today, for my Certificate in Contemporary Sciences. This is the seal, or print, or whatever embossement is called these days:



I love these things, they're old-fashioned but really cool.

Have had to completely uninstall Firefox because it kept crashing and being totally fail even though it was fine this morning. So, have had to remember all my passwords (some I've forgotten) and I need to sort out all my settings. Am now looking for the addons I really need. And making lots of mistakes typing this because IT'S WINTER AND IT'S AUGUST. WEATHERFAIL!!!!!!!!!

Day 224 All the way home it's been raining - sometimes heavy, sometimes light. But it had obviously been raining well at home, cos I took this photo of one of the bushes in the garden:



Not sure what this plant is but I think it looks good in the rain :)

Day 209 A cloud photo, cos I saw these cumulus clouds in the distance and I thought they looked cool, very old-fashioned and reserved.



That's the weather today, cloudy and rainy with just a bit of blue sky. I like it when you can see cumulus clouds into the distance, and you're looking under them.

Day 180 This is what was left after a huge enormous heavy rain shower this morning at work.



Clouds are awesome. We don't get many (or any) unusual clouds here, so I have to be content with a big cauliflower cumulus. Which I like.