Sunday 19th December
We have just returned from our week’s holiday in Suffolk. The time absolutely flew by and it seemed we had hardly arrived when it was time to come back here. Actually it was fortunate we went when we did because we were able to take advantage of the brief respite in the arctic conditions. Indeed the weather has certainly taken a turn for the worst since we got back.
Our journeys, there and back, were both surprisingly trouble free. It was freezing and icy when we left here and there were a couple of inches of snow in Dunwich the night before we were due to leave there to come home and we feared the worst both times but the main roads were perfectly ok and we did both trips in 3 and a half hours. Fortunately it was dry on our return journey. The fuse had blown in the screen washers on the hire car so we would have been unable to clear the screen if there had been any spray on the roads.
It was nice to have a few days where it went above freezing but now we are back in the icy grip! The temperature in the boat on our return was a balmy 2 degrees, lovely! We quickly lit the fire and in addition spent several hours with the fan heater and the gas rings on full blast as well, to try to warm things up. It was nearly bed time before I took my coat off and after a week of walking about barefoot in the underfloor heated cottage, I was seriously considering putting on another pair of socks as my feet were like ice blocks!
I am happy to report that normal service has now been resumed. I have dispensed with the Michelin Woman look and am back to joggers and a t shirt indoors in the evenings, although I am still wearing socks!
George enjoyed his holiday despite the fact that he found the floor of the cottage a bit too warm at times! We took him for some good walks in the woods. One of these was 50 minutes long and he managed very well. Because we had a lot on he only got to go to the pub once all week, bless.
To try to keep up his recent increase in exercise, today we took George to the pub in the village. However, we went the long way, under the road, over the canal and up the towpath. We did it in 40 minutes, which we thought was really good and he seemed to enjoy it. We did let him come back the short way though.
