We succumb to a Duvet!!!

I don't quite know what was going on with John's body clock yesterday because I cannot believe he is so enamoured by the England Cricket Team that he would willingly get up at stupid o'clock to watch another abject performance!!!  Still they did at least manage to salvage a draw so that this Ashes Test will not be a whitewash but really that is not something we or the England Cricket Team should be proud of.  Anyway his early morning TV watching left me to have a lovely lie-in even if I was pinned down by Boris and Charlie!

It turned out to be yet another bright, sunny and warm start to the day but the weather forecast is terrible, in fact there are yellow warnings in that really bad weather is coming in this afternoon with days of rain and low temperatures on offer.  I grabbed the opportunity to get the washing done that has been hanging around in my wash basket for days and then made John's year by relenting and agreeing that we could have a duvet on the bed.  We have only had the duvet cover and a throw thus far but we have not had many nights when the temperature has been in single figures but it looks like this is now much more likely.  The hunt ensued for the 4.5 tog duvet.  We have a lovely duckdown duvet set which is made up of a lightweight 4.5 tog with a heavier weight 9.5 tog which can be clipped together to make a massive 14 tog - we have never done that, in fact we have never used the 9.5 one!!!

Although it was warm and sunny in the conservatory our lounge/diner remained cool and with Mum and Lilian coming for lunch we decided to light the woodburner to make it cosy.  If the forecast was correct, which it was, we were going to need it this evening anyway and John, over the years, has learned how best to get the fire so it just 'tickles' and keeps the room at a nice steady temperature.  This is in contrast to the first year we had it when it was sub-tropical in the house and we used logs like there was no tomorrow!

Lilian is back safe and sound from her trip to the UK, she has paid her penance and completed her isolation and got negative tests back.  Her trip had not been a great success because the presence of Omicron throughout the UK meant she was unable to meet up with the people she had hoped to see.  As a visitor you cannot run the risk of contracting the virus for fear of having to quarantine at your own expense and not get back home.

We had the remains of the Progressive Dinner - Hunters Pie with carrot and peas and the poached and baked apples for pudding.  We were all saying we hadn't had baked apples for years and had really enjoyed them.  I find on my limited diet that puddings are the hardest and Mum always likes a pudding.  Fortunately red apples are really good for me and most of the flavour came from the poaching and then I put a few sultanas into the middle with a tiny bit of Bassam's own raw honey which is lovely  and again ok for me to use.

We had a nice afternoon, and were lucky that it remained sunny and warm in the conservatory until it was time for Mum and Lilian to leave and then as we were waving them goodbye it began to spit with rain.  

We settled down to watch the less than Mighty Blades get cuffed 3-0 by Wolves in an FA Cup match.  Les would have approved - in fact had he still been alive he would most definitely have been round to watch the match with John.  John raised a glass to him with a bottle of the ale that Richard and his Mum Ellen had kindly brought round when they came before Christmas.  They are still in the UK but have been in touch and plan to return before the end of January - all things being equal as my Dad would have said.  Although we don't see them that often we have missed them and hope that their trip has been successful, or at least more successful than Lilian's was.

After the football we decided to settle down and start watching a new series - if we don't have something that captures our interest we are terrible at staying up so I chose The Landscapers with Olivia Coleman.  A fascinating story and I really like the way that it has been shot which in part makes it feel like a theatre production.  We managed two episodes - I think the call of the 4.5 tog duvet was too much for John!!!