Wednesday

Good morning, everyone.  After a very broken night's sleep (the cold, finally 'coming out' after weeks of threatening to), I'm up at stupid o'clock and it's too dark to see if there's a frost.  According to the Beeb, there should be by morning but we will see.  I'm wrapped up warm and the heating is on so it's not cold inside.

Yesterday went OK, all of it.  Jeff turned up at the designated time and now my back garden has has a little haircut and dust down and looks , if not neat, a lot less tatty than before.  Autumn is the worst time for tattiness really.  Once most of the leaves are down (and they are) it's just a question of a snip here and a pull up there and making sure the bulbs are coming through (and they are!)

Once he had finished and gone, I took a walk to Morrisons to get a few bits and bobs in and espied some fresh cranberries that looked so festively jewelled that I just had to get some.  I'll turn them into cranberry sauce (aka jam, really) in the next few days and that's that sorted for Christmas.  I've stopped fussing with spices in my cranberry sauce as it makes the texture a bit grainy and I like it clear.  I boil up the cranberries with sugar and a dash of water (amounts are a bit guess work really but it always works) and add some orange zest (just from fruit I am going to eat anyway so it's often a couple of easy peelers), some lemon juice (from a bottle) and a splash of cointreau (optional but lovely!).  The lemon juice is not for setting purposes, it's because tastes nice!  The fact that it helps setting is an optional bonus.
And that's it.  Decant into a clean jar (or two), screw on the lid and allow to cool before storing in a cupboard.  I never have any problems with setting and never check; you can just tell by the consistency.

At twelve, I set off for my hour of personal training.  Lindsey's changed the routine now to include more balance ball exercises with weights which I can do at home.  I'm continuing to really enjoy these sessions and have booked another set of them but once a fortnight rather than once a week so some work in between sessions is quite important.

As I set off for PT, the window cleaner turned up.  He hasn't come for ages and I was wondering if I need to find someone else but it turns out the poor chap broke his ankle and was off work for ages.  I'm glad he is OK now.

Later on, I had a tuition session and that was fun - I so enjoy the bit of teaching I still do and, without feeling I have to look over my shoulder all the time, it just becomes a most satisfying experience all round.

Today is a different day.

At around nine to nine thirty, a company is arriving to clean my big downstairs carpet which, frankly, is in a disgraceful state.  It will be disruptive, of course, but so nice when it's all done and nowadays the machines are so good that they leave the carpet pretty much dry anyway.  The central heating will see off the remaining dampness.

After that I have a free afternoon when I will probably make the cranberry jelly and that can be my Christmas Thing for today.  Then, come the early evening, I am off to school for a multi academy governors' training session on 'Analysing School Performance'.  I've read through the paperwork that came via text and am hoping for clarification this evening!!!

And after that I should sleep very well!

Today's music is a lovely rendition of 'Mary, did you know?' performed by Pentatonix.

I hope you enjoy it (and today) as much as I do.  xx