Catching up

It has been freezing since Christmas; bitterly cold with an icy wind - not comfortable at all. Yesterday (Sunday) I went out in the garden to clean out the animals and ended up giving them a very quick fettle as it was so cold, that even with gloves on, my hands were frozen and very painful. It took ages for them to thaw out when I came indoors and they hurt like hell.

I've had a stinking cold for the last couple of days - always happens at Christmas; I take a few days off, relax and my immune system has a holiday *roll*. It's just a head cold, but very thick and nasty; I can't think straight and am a total liability!

Yesterday Rosie and I took the pup walking at Giant's Cave; a lovely wild area just a mile or so out of Banbury and on The Bretch. It's the site of an original ironstone quarry (lots of iron ore around here, hence the red soil) and all that's left now are lots of limestone outcrops and deep hollows. I understand that there used to be a cave there, hence the name, but nothing is left now. Ruby loved it, running around and investigating all the burrows and smells.

Today we went to IKEA in Coventry to buy a roll fronted cupboard for the kitchen, Phil and I have spent the last hour putting it together (I love flat-pack) and will put it on the wall in the morning. The idea is to put all the groceries from one of the floor cupboards in it so that I have more space in the other one. There aren't any wall cupboards in my kitchen - I don't much like them and feel that they block the space visually, and space is at a premium in my kitchen. This one is shallow though and shouldn't make too much visual impact. I fele a kitchen tidying session coming on; some of the cupboards really need all the stuff taking out, cleanign and re-organising

I hope that this vile cold slings it's hook before new year's eve as I don't much want to be poorly when we're supposed to be going out to celebrate my birthday the next day :-(