RHS Wisley

This morning Gavin and I walked Xena in the woods, where we met so many Vizslas. Back home for a coffee and then we went to RHS Wisley to visit the gardens. Thankfully during the Tier 4 lockdown the National Trust properties and gardens like Wisley are still open, but their cafes are only serving take away food and drinks. As RHS Wisley is in Tier 4 they are only allowing entry to visitors from Tier 4 and not from the other tiers.

We got a delicious take away butternut soup from their cafe and enjoyed walking around the gardens. Despite being winter the gardens still look so attractive, with all the brightly coloured dogwood (cornus), feathery grasses and reeds, and even some blossoms and magnolia buds on the trees. It has been such a mild winter I was not that surprised to see blossoms. It was 14C which is almost 3 times the usual temperature for this time of year.

On the way home we stopped off at the supermarket to do the final grocery shop before Christmas, so I got all the vegetables and everything else I needed. Gavin will collect the Christmas meats on Christmas Eve but other than that I am now done! There were no queues and everything was in stock, other than chicken which has been an almost empty shelf for the last two visits to the shop - maybe due to the Avian flu problem?

I have all my presents bought and wrapped, other than one which although bought from a UK company is coming from The Netherlands and I received an email to say that due to the border problem between the UK and France, UPS cannot deliver at the moment so that present will not arrive in time for Christmas.

Tomorrow my custom built PC is finally being delivered. The company have been very good keeping me up to date on the progress of the build, and I am pleased to be getting it although my 'computer man' can only come after the new year to set it up and install it for me. It is a bit more complicated than plugging in a shop ready PC. 

I finished reading the Booker prize winning book Shuggie Bain - it was a very good read but so depressing and full of despair, I kept waiting for some joy to come into their lives but it seems that Glasgow in the 1980's was not the place to find it when you live in poverty with an alcoholic mother.

I feel so sorry for the truck drivers who are stuck at Dover trying to get home in time for Christmas - I hope the UK and French governments sort this border problem asap.