Furry boots

After powering through stuff at work reasonably well, and with the temperature dropping close to zero again, I headed out to the supermarket to return a pair of thermal leggings I bought yesterday.  Supermarkets clearly haven't heard of a cyclist's physique, all small waist and powerful thighs.  It's a shame, because they were otherwise dead cosy.  I would have bought a smaller size but there was none to be had.

After a tip off from bestie that Lidl might have something to offer, I headed there.  No leggings in my size, which was equally a shame because I liked the pattern, but I did snaffle the last two pairs of long thermal socks, to wear whilst working from home or trudging through snow or perhaps while zooming up and down the M6.

Shopping over I headed home, but not quite.  I cycled over to the Bush estate again for a bit of darkness to see if I could spot the International Space Station going overhead: I saw it late afternoon, bright as anything, after scouring the skies for a couple of minutes.  En route I stopped by the trees because I heard a couple of owls calling to each other.  I crept along the path to roughly where it seemed to be and stared up into the trees.  How wonderful it was to spot it in the gloom, pale brown, almost white!  And it was a treat to watch it launch itself from the branch, flap its wings once or twice and glide silently to the trees beyond.  I didn't see it after that.  I think it must have been a Tawny Owl; it looked pale, like a Barn Owl, but Tawnys come in quite a range of shades, and its "long quavering hoot" was unmistakeable.

And not long after, there was the space station again, fainter than before, and I saw it only for a few seconds.  So then it was definitely time to get home and warm up!