Halo.

Cold, cold, cold. The first hard frost of the year this morning – the garden looked magical. M and I had to scrape the car before we set off to work, and one of the girls at the office skidded on ice and dunked her car into the one in front too. She was fine but I think her car is a bit squished :o(

Lots to be getting on with again today. I much prefer working on jobs with a tight timescale than projects that stretch off into the distance; I like a bit of immediacy. The job I was working on today was an emergency variation to an existing permit, and I think I did a good job on it. Happy to see it sail out of the door on time this afternoon!

After work I walked home via Sainsbury’s for some nibbles, and had just got myself and the house ready before the first of our visitors turned up for mini bonfire night. M got home just 5 minutes after they arrived so we all opened a beer and I put the stovies in the oven to warm up. By the time everyone had arrived we had a house full of 13 people, most of whom had some connection to each other that M and I hadn’t known about. Aberdeen is too small! We lit the fire in the hanging pit of our BBQ in the garden, and M and one of the boys set up the fireworks. They were really good and we only had one mishap with one of them falling over (while lit) and pointing directly at a couple of M’s friends – luckily they jumped out of the way in time :o)

After a bit of sparkler fun we all headed back inside and M warmed up some Gluwein while I organised some toffee apples. Really good night! As people began to drift away M and I settled on the sofa and watched a bit of TV; when the last of our friends left I fell asleep and was spectacularly grumpy when M tried to get me to go to bed – whoops. Lovely night, and much more fun than fireworks at the beach!