In the freezer

It's getting beyond belief, this weather, as morning after morning I waken to a perishing bedroom and a clear sky - especially as so many people from elsewhere in the country (and on my social media lists) are posting photos of snow. The cold bedroom is to be expected (no radiator, and the heating isn't set to come on till 7am, although today I realised from the en-suite towel rail that it had come on in the night, showing just how cold it was). Looking at the forecast for the coming week, I see day after day of sleet/snow/heavy rain (that's Sunday's forecast before it reverts again) - so today I took every towel I could find in both bathrooms and washed and hung them all out. They were dry by lunchtime, which was wonderfully satisfying.

We had a walk in the second part of the morning just because the sky was so perfectly blue and it seemed silly to wait; we headed to Benmore Gardens, remembering our tickets because it's open again for the season, and climbed the hill to the Andean Refuge. The light was perfect and I've taken so many photos, but I've chosen a sort of abstract for today's blip - the ice in the ornamental lake, with the trees reflected at the top. We both felt we weren't going to make it, but I've realised that half the trouble is starting to walk or - worse - climb a hill is beyond us these days if we don't take the time to warm up first. (Stopping to pant at the top of the first steep ascent does it - I can feel the blood returning to muscles from wherever it's been hiding, and the aches and dead sensation lessens ...

The afternoon was bitty. I caught up on the papers, went out for my prescriptions, came home and discovered one lot was a new brand and had talc in the tablets (I'm allergic) so had to trail back down the hill again and have them exchanged. Walking briskly down the hill to the town is fine; I felt like a really old person walking back up, especially as I'm always determined to keep up the same pace. I remind myself of how tiring it was pushing the pram up it, with a small boy hanging onto the handle to help him up the steep bit. Does that help? Not really.

Footnote: I've discovered, disconcertingly, that there seem to be no more lessons to upgrade on my phone app of Duolingo, though there is one set I've still to reach Nirvana on when I do it on the desktop. If anyone else out there can enlighten me as to what to do next, I'd be grateful.