We've killed the houseplants!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We had a lovely time at Carol and Graham's in Peterborough and saw most of the family.  Ben and Lucy came on Christmas Eve and stayed until midday on Christmas day and Mum and Dad were there for the day itself.  Too much to eat, too much to drink, a thorough warming up and luxuries like dry loo paper!  Bob and I both commented on how strange it seemed to be so out of touch with the outside temperature - it was strange to feel toasty warm and open the curtains to see the cars iced over and snow still on the ground!

Definitely back to earth with a bump when we got back here though!  Everything in the caravan was completely frozen.  I'm not sure the houseplants will survive - you know when a lettuce gets stuck at the back of the fridge, freezes and the leaves go see-through?  Well that's what the poor plants look like now!  The water in the loo was completely frozen solid and the shower head split because the water left in it froze.  So, first job was to switch on all the heaters, but that kept tripping the electrics and so we had to turn some off.  Then two hairdryers and the hot air gun on the pipes outside.  Luckily we got home while it was still light, but it was just about dark before we'd got the outside tap and stopcock thawed.  Phew, thank goodness for that . . . .  hold on, not so quick!  Still no water in the caravan - we've not had that problem before, so we moved the hot air squirting to the pipes that feed the van.  After three hours we gave up and filled a water carrier for drinking and a bucket for flushing (one flush between three of course, mmm, nice!) Before we went away, we attempted to drain the caravan pipes using the drain valves underneath, but there is obviously more to it than that and some water must have been left in the pipes.

At 7 o'clock this morning we heard the magical sound of water trickling into the toilet cistern - yeah! we thought, we don't have to do any more thawing out.  Intending to go straight back to bed, I got up to turn a tap on to flush the water through and get it flowing properly.  No need, I could hear water flowing in the kitchen . . . . . from the pipe under the water heater not the tap!!!  So, in just my nightie-T-shirt and spotty black bedsocks (it's a unique look!) I frantically mopped the water into the sink as fast as I could while Bob leapt into some jeans and legged it down to turn the stopcock off.  This meant we were in a worse state as we now had no water at all.  We had to melt snow to flush the loo! Luckily, after flooding the worktop the water had flowed down the hole where the pipes go through, filled up all the plates in the cupboard below then flowed again through the bottom hole where the pipe goes out under the caravan.  This did at least mean that the rest of the kitchen didn't get soaked and it was all contained in that one corner.  One of the plastic joints in the copper pipe had split, so all we needed was a new elbow joint . . . . on a Bank Holiday!  Why is it always a Bank Holiday?!  Luckily, one of the 'everything merchants' in town was open and we got the part quite easily - apparently, at just after 10am, Bob was the fifth person to go in for pipe fittings, so I guess a lot of people were in the same situation! 

Anyway, it was then very easy to fix and luckily there were no problems anywhere else.  Laura did a sterling job washing all the plates and cutlery to put back in the now dried out cupboard (it's one way to get the spring-cleaning done!) while I did a bodge-job fix on the shower head with silicone and gaffer tape (no-one's tried it yet!) and Bob re-taped all the lagging on the pipes.  All calm and back to normal again - and we all feel shattered!  So, after a walk round the block (oh, don't worry, I had got dressed earlier!) we came back to a warm, tidy caravan for a cuppa, christmas chocolate and a nap!  Now when I say warm caravan, that's by our standards - Laura is wrapped in a blanket hugging the heater!  Bless her, I bet she's wishing she hadn't come to stay!

The chickens were fine while we were away thanks to some very kind neighbours who called round twice a day with a flask of water, collected eggs and even fed them chopped up sprouts!

We have a new Christmas follower.  Now, I have a choice, this is either sister-in-law Annette, work friend Annette from 25 years ago (surely it's not that long ago!) or a complete stranger Annette  . . . . and I've just found out it's sister-in-law Annette and, yep, it's still exciting!

Christmas shopping . . . . . aarrghh!

Ho, ho, ho!  I should now be feeling christmassey having had a mega Christmas day yesterday.  I was starting to feel a little panicky at the weekend having not done any Christmas shopping at all and hearing all sorts of people saying they'd just about finished!  So Bob and I went Christmas shopping on Monday . . . . well, we drove over to Stockport to collect out cast iron radiator which is our Christmas present to ourselves, so that was two presents done!  We had to go to the bank in town on the way home and managed to pick up another couple of things.  Then on Tuesday I booked a day off with the boss and went to Shrewsbury vowing not to return until I had got everything - and I managed it!  I really wasn't looking forward to it - you know, shopping is just not my thing at all.  That said, it wasn't tooooo bad.  I have to say, Shrewsbury is a much nicer place to shop than the places I used to go - Northampton, Peterborough and Milton Keynes.  Everyone always seemed so stressed there, pushing and shoving with grumpy shop assistants.  But there was a really nice atmoshpere in Shrewsbury, shop assistants were helpful and cheerful and other shoppers just seemed more friendly, holding doors open, smiling and joking - just much nicer.  Don't get me wrong, I still don't like shopping, it just wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I got home at about 4pm having popped into Oswestry to get a couple more bits and then I spent all evening wrapping it all up.  Phew, all done!

Yesterday, the last day before the return of the big freeze, we made more mortar and put the last two extractor fan vents in, then used up the rest of the mortar around the back boxes for sockets.  Have you ever tried getting sockets straight and level on a random stone wall, wel it's not easy!  They are packed out with bits of slate, stones and mortar which will hopefully hold them in place.  Today we have been trying to clean up the purlins and woodwork upstairs.  Some parts of them are a bit dodgy so we have tried to remove the soft bits, some parts have been whitewashed which is fairly easy to get off and other bits have several coats of amazing paint.  However they used to make paint, it certainly sticks to wood.  Some bits just won't scrape off and if you use a hot air gun on it it kind of melts and soaks into the wood a bit more.  The same if you use paint stripper and sanding just seems to polish the paint rather than removing it!  We've tried all of them and there is still paint there, so we'll just have to keep having a go.  Once our shoulders and arms could take no more above-head sanding, we moved onto other jobs.  Bob boarded in the bit in the utility room where all the cables congregate ready for the fuse boxes (I know, they're not called fuse boxes anymore!) to be screwed on.  Lets hope he has all the cables grouped together properly or the electrician will be confused!  I have done some more insulation in the walls in the kitchen.

Yesterday evening we had a go at felt-making at the smallholders meeting.  It was quite messy and made your arms ache, but we had a laugh . . . . . especially when we looked at the finished result!  It looks like an old rag . . . but we're proud of it!  Now who shall we give this wondrous homemade gift to this Christmas?!!  Any of our parents should be proud to own it shouldn't they?  Tee hee, don't worry we wouldn't do that to you!  Here's how you could make something just as wonderful!  Take some washed (and in this case dyed) wool which has been carded (this is were they kind of comb it to get all the fibres going the same way which is the stage at which it would be spun into knitting or weaving yarn).  Then you pull bits off and lay them on a piece of bubble wrap (this is a very ancient art, but I didn't know they had bubble wrap way back when!).  Then put another layer on top with the fibres going at right angles to the first lot and then a third layer going the same way as the first.  Then you put warm soapy water all over it, lay a piece of net curtain on top and rub round and round all over it using a scrunched up palstic bag.  The bag and net curtain are to stop the fibres sticking to your hands.  After a while the fibres start knitting together and then you can turn it over and carry on, and on, and on!  Eventually it turns into felt and is quite firm and strong.  I think Bob and I were being too gentle and kept getting thin bits and holes.  When it almost felt, you can decorate it.  Everyone else used sequins, feathers lace and sparkly wool - in which case you arrange the decorations on top then lay a very thin layer of wool fibres over and then carry on with the water and rubbing.  Bob and I decided on a punky version of a Union Jack instead - well, it made everyone laugh!  We've decided it's an old battle flag and has certainly seen some action - it even has a bullet hole!