Storm passing through ...

So that was another storm, though I have to confess I've already forgotten its name - it came during the night and didn't last much past breakfast time. I wonder if all this naming of storms inflates their effects just a little? Or was it worse elsewhere? Perhaps we're just so used to wind and rain here that it seems normal unless there are several landslides or a flood or two. Anyway, a lack of opportunity meant that the only photos I have from today are all a bit ... nothing, really, and you're stuck with one of the two I took from the bedroom window when I got up. The lights outside the Dunoon Observer office, on the left centre, are the ones that shine on my bedroom wall at night and make for rather less darkness than one might wish, but they create an illusion of cosiness amid the gloom.

The rain had not long stopped when it was time to leave for Pilates, and I was able to dash along the lane without getting wet. I didn't like the thought of putting myself through all that physical stuff with wet leggings, though in the event I ended up with a damp derrière because my pal's car door had leaked slightly in the night ... Anyway, I bagged the corner of the studio with the heater in it. I seem to be the only person in the class who keeps my jersey on till ten minutes from the end - it takes the elbow planks to warm me up!

We stayed for coffee today, a group of us from the class, piling into the cafe in our unbecoming lycra and talking nineteen to the dozen. The building could do with getting rid of the fluorescent strip lighting downstairs and perhaps rather more heating (the warmest place was the Ladies' loo), but it's jolly to socialise with a coffee instead of in the car. Especially with a damp behind ...

After a double espresso, I was sufficiently fired up to go round to the health shop (having changed out of the leggings) for flour (for bread ) and dried fruit and marzipan and golden icing sugar (it's almost time to think Christmas cake). Then Himself came back from his class, we had some bread and cheese (with membrillo paste - yum) ... and that was that. I read the paper, read the online rolling news about the Cabinet reshuffle, ordered some charity cards - and sewed. I loathe sewing. But I have two pairs of trousers that seem too long (I'm shrinking) and decided I could do them myself. Mistake, I think - I'll have to see if they're ok once I've pressed the hems. If not, it's down to the fantastic Anoli in the town to do them for me. 

Now the wind has dropped, the rain isn't making itself apparent, and I feel decidedly tired and chilly. Shower and bed beguile me ...