Raiding the Berries

Was looking out the front window this morning and noticed a lot of activity on the berberis plant in the garden.  The cold weather seems to have encouraged the local blackbird community to start stripping the plant of its berries.  A similar thing is happening in the rear garden so I think its time to put out some food for the birds.

I'd had to wait in for deliveries and collection of furniture today.  We'd had a most unusual situation where the inside of some new bedroom furniture had a black sooty deposit.  We'd asked for it to be exchanged but, as is often the way with such things, this is where the customer service came up short. In the end we completely cancelled the order after their couriers were unwilling to take away the original furniture.  A third party had suggested that the soot may have come from the exhausts of vehicles used in the factory where the items were made! I'd never heard of this before but the smell did have an oily tone to it.