Thaw, birds and a crazy fridge/freezer

Had my last session with Balazs in the baths, had good chat with my friends in the red corner where we managed to chase away a neofascist old geezer. Roy came to pick me up and we got going. We visited a pharmacy en route to get my pills, then an agricultural shop to purchase a large bag of sunflower seeds to feed the birds. We did an almighty great food shop in Tesco, then deposited my old telephone at the guy who I bought it from to get the restrictions off it. On arrival home we walked in gingerly, remembering the disaster that awaited us after three weeks away back in February. This time we were only away for a fortnight, but we were full of worry, considering the temperatues had plummeted in the meantime. The only problem we found was the fridge/freezer which had stopped working. In a total panic (we had bought lots of frozen stuff) we started emptying the fridge/freezer and packing its contents and all the shopping into the considerably smaller fridge in the Bunkhouse. This gave us a chance to look over the contents for defrosted and/or too old stuff and we did indeed chuck a good few bits away. As it happens, just after we did all that the errant machine had started working again. It is back to its bad habit of singing, but at least it is still working.

The weather stayed cold for a day or two, but then started thawing, which always creates a dirty, untidy and miserable looking countryside. I don't like it. The added twist, however, this time was frozen rain on Saturday, which made us really happy that we came down on Friday, avoiding the lethal roads frozen rain usually produces. The birds have obviously kept an eye out for us, because as soon as we filled their bowls they were back in numbers. This time we not only put out the sunflower seeds we bought, but started giving them the old walnuts, which are now too old to eat and they loved that too. The picture above is that of the first hawfinch I saw this year.

These two little tits were happily eating when I snapped them, it is a shame that I can only photograph them from inside the house, otherwise they fly away as soon as they spot me. This way with the light behind them they end up rather dark. We got a bill in the post which showed that there was a previous bill we didn't pay. I couldn't remember receiving it. Finally I worked out that it was delivered to 52 and we did find it sopping wet from three months ago. There was a lot of work on the computer, translating and other stuff. Finally I also got round to getting really acquainted with my smartphone and am now quite proficient in its use. I downloaded Facebook and Skype onto it, the only thing I can't find is a GPS, so it probably hasn't got one.

This weekend past we managed to see Callum whom we haven't seen for ages. He is beginning to show traits of his mother, as he put all his cars and trucks in neat rows in the snug. He then went onto putting together two puzzles and even said hallo to me. He is still very cheeky, but growing up nicely.

We are invited to a gettogether at the Nemeshazis on Thursday, so we will go in by bus. My old phone, which was not supposed to have been done until after Christmas, had been done, so we'll have to somehow organise picking that up as well. Perhaps a bit of food shopping would not come amiss either, but Roy wants to get back for the village Christmas party, which starts at 5pm on Friday.