Apples and pears and things!

If I'd been doing this with a little more care I might have re-arranged the fruit in the bowl and not shown you the rather `grotty' apple on the end. It had been my intention to photograph the other end of the pears during daylight, but then our friends arrived (with the bottle of Rioja) and the daylight just went. We haven't seen them for quite a few years, so it was good to catch up. Tom, who has been retired for several years, has now been persuaded to go on a work assignment from his old firm. This will take him to China if he manages to get his passport sorted out tomorrow in Liverpool. Although we don't have snow here, it's bitterly damp/cold and very raw, the top of the Pennines does have snow and the Snake pass has been closed for a couple of days. He thinks he'll try the Woodhead Road, which is the one closest to us, and not the M62. A 5am start will not make it easy!

It's been a bit of a sorting out morning for me. The New Internationalist magazines that I've been accumulating for several years are now in the recycling bin and my subscription cancelled. Never easy, it probably took me at least an hour to sort out the cancellation of magazine and direct debit. I wonder if I'll miss it! (But then I can always resubscribe!) I also had a lovely surprise this morning as I received a happy retirement card and good wishes from the Geography ICT group which I chaired for several years and in it was a book token. I will enjoy choosing a book. I've got my eye on a Grayson Perry/ British Museum book, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, which I was looking at in the Sculpture Park shop yesterday. I think there will be enough left over to choose another, so I'll need to do a bit more research. I'll probably choose a photography or printmaking book.