Oversized

Spotted on a shopping trip today. Best not to ask him to move up I think.

I went to the market for the first time in a while. By Covid standards it was fairly busy but it's a depressing shadow of its former self. I reckon it has about a quarter of the food stalls it used to have before it moved from the high street to the square. Even when it's "busy" it doesn't have that bustle and buzz any more. I did meet one person I know and bought a load of organic lemons for preserving, and some couscous for lunch.

Back home we had the joiners in replacing our two front windows. I was sad to see the old ones go, with their traditional style and thin, ripply glass which must be many decades old. But the supplier did a great job of matching the appearance, and you can't tell from a distance that we are now snugly double-glazed. No more howling gales through the gaps.

When he came to measure up a couple of weeks ago, the joiner mentioned that he makes compressed pellets for stoves with his waste sawdust. He dropped a couple of sacks off a few days later for us to try, since we still don't have any firewood after running out a month ago. Although our stove is not designed for this type of fuel, they are working surprisingly well. They light easily with cardboard and paper and we just burn a few at a time with the stove turned down. It does mean you have to feed the fire every 20 minutes or so, but it's surprisingly warm and cost-effective (even before the double glazing). So today the workers brought ten more sacks. S phoned the wood merchant yesterday evening to remind him of our order and that we had run out. "Oh la la," he replied. Helpful.