Lunch is well on the way to its final preparation; all that effort for demolition to take so little time. It nearly didn't make it but I caught it just as crunchy bits (which I like) developed.

Once the lunch ritual is done and dusted for today, I shall pack a bag and all the other subsidiary bags that have to go with it, as we're away to one of the big cities for a few days. I suppose we'll have to pack a shovel, blankets and at least one flask as well, just to be on the safe side. We shall be climbing (driving) high over the Northern Highlands of Scotland where weather conditions can be most unpredictable.

My blogs will fall into silence; nay, peace will reign, for a few days at any rate.

Things have quietened down a bit today - anything would be quieter than the storms we had. Gusts up to 120mph were recorded in some exposed parts of the county.

We travelled to the county town this afternoon. 20 miles away, to support their fun day. We took the opportunity to have lunch at our favourite Nepalese restaurant there. We were the only lunch customers and boy, was the room cold. I ordered a good single malt whisky (Glen Morangie) to warm me up, not my usual aperitif but a much needed one this time. It is distilled about 75-80 miles from where I live and is a very fine quality single malt whisky. The name means glen of tranquility.

En route we saw masses of flooding. It was impossible to see where the river's bank was. Lochs were similary undefinable. It was still pretty windy but my hat more-or-less stayed where it was put.

The fun day is a day when funds are raised to pay for Christmas lights and for the street party at Hogmanay. Shops offer sweets, sweet mince pies in one case, some shops give discount on purchases, and in others, staff dress up in varying xmas costumes.

The children had a Christmas hat parade and because it was so cold, the little ones wore their woolly hats, some with ear mufflers, under their parents' creations. Official lighting up was at 4.30pm however it started to rain at ten past four and very, very heavily too.

I bought my housebound 85 year old mother-in-law a hand-held fibre optic snowman that had six lighting programmes so we could do a bit of xmas lighting up at her house. She had some fun with it and soon cottoned on to how it worked and switched off. She's going to ration its use to make sure she's got it working for Christmas.

Our fun day is next week; I wonder what form it will take. I do know that the county townsfolk will come over here and support ours, so it should be a jolly communal afternoon.

I obtain great amusement from looking at the adverts that attach themselves to my site. There really is a wonderful sense of achievement in realising that whatever or whoever it is that is hanging on to my every written word really has not picked up on my true interests or figured out me! It is very satisfying.

We are being ravaged by the most tremendous storms,the North Atlantic is a high white foaming wall,the wind is howling in from the Arctic and the house has been allowed to 'cool' down.

I have just heard the understatement of the year - "you're not very warm are you."

We have blizzards here now, hailstone blizzards that really hurt when they hit. I got blown into a pole and to avoid the blinkin' thing hurting me, I grabbed it like I was dancing round a maypole. I was temporarily a black spectre with a bright red fluffy, bitty scarf being twirled full circle round the pole by the force of the wind.

P.S. I'm risking the elements again tonight, to go out and see Harry Potter.

Tonight I want to say thanks to all those people who are making my blogging experience such an interesting and fun one. It opens up my world to a different experience from the insular world I live in.

My immediate world is insular because it is divorced by its physcial location from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It is a slower pace of life in a community where people smile at each other, even those people you don't know. You are considered the odd one out, or sympathetically thought of as 'new' if you do not smile, or if you do not return a smile when one is given.

Notwithstanding such pleasantries, I still want and need to know what else is happening in other parts of the land. I have found blogging is to some extent offering me other insights and on this site in particular, as I have contact with such responsive and friendly people.

Thanks again, to all of you. D

An hotel in which her school group were staying for the weekend ignored her request for a vegan diet and one other youngster suffered the same fate: his dietary needs related to health requirements.

She withdrew from the world to nurse her anger and frustration, unable to openly express herself and her feelings anywhere that she felt was useful or constructive, least of all to her parents, who in truth, were bewildered and deeply concerned. She refused to attend school two days this week. It is a crucial examination year and a critical point in the year and she missed two vital days.

On two previous occasions her parents were the reason for her withdrawal from school; as they have involvement in educational matters, it was her way of hurting them. She returned to school with me and settled well. This time the reason was different but the reaction would have had the same self-destructive effect. I was dubious that I could work the 'miracle' a third time and I held back from direct contact, spending time instead in giving mum a bit of TLC and moral support.

However, in talking with mum she said that her daughter had checked I was not being invited to the house as I was 'dangerous'. It was a clear message to me: that statement made me reverse my decision and I returned home with mum.

There was no hiding in her room, she was sociable and obviously glad to see me. When mum went out she even made sure we were comfortable and warm. We talked and we shared; she responded constructively to some of my gentle challenges to her thoughts.

Tomorrow she says she will go to School - I do hope so.

I believe I already know the answer to this question: are you aware there is a consultation process underway between the public and Offcom about the use of non-geographical telephone numbers e.g. 0870/1, 0845, and premium lines 0900 etc?

By comparison, geographical numbers, those that start with 01 - 02 are reducing in price while the cost of being forced to use non-geographical numbers is rising.

The deafening media silence, the lack of advertising is stifling our right to vote, to have our views made known and our voices heard on an issue that takes money from our pockets without our permission.

The media are extraordinarily quiet about it; the media giants all use non-geographical numbers and financially benefit from them.

Vested interests in all the 'right' places means that this public consultation about an imposition of extra charges to services we are already paying for, will be publicly under-subscribed. As a consequence we will no doubt, be left with a pigs ear of a result.

Questionnaires are available for completion online and all information including details of the consultation questions are available from www.saynoto0870.com. You can also go direct to the Offcom website. Make your thoughts known, make this a genuine public consultation.

Please pass this information on to as many people as you can - it is important and in the long term could save everyone, money.

I did copy and paste the links in but this system did not show them - sorry.

I'm now off to get my consultation document done and dusted.

Today I was going to write something seminal but I have put so much effort into wrapping lots and lots of gift parcels for Christmas, (I can see wrapping paper patterns dancing in front of my eyes) that I have decided to postpone thinking for another day.

A police officer died yesterday in the course of her duty and another was injured. I feel, I hurt about this as I have for other police officers who have died on our streets while serving the public.

I also feel and hurt about those other innocents who have met untimely deaths in our communities.

There is no doubt about it, it is brass monkey weather here! It was lovely in the sun, but it was so bright and low, it was blinding. It has been one of those few days we get when it is crisp and dry, where the ice underfoot does not really lift, making for dangerous walking and driving. The low lying bright sunlight shines for such a short time, bowing out to leave a clear and even colder night to quickly draw in. One car driver already, has fortunately survived a patch of black ice.

We are not quick enough to cover car windscreens, they frost almost as soon as the car is parked. There really is very little time so the covers are left for another occasion.

Winter really has arrived now...

Winter is really upon us here in the far north of Scotland. Since last week we had pounding gales, with winds gusting up to 85 miles per hour (you'll have to work out the equivalent kilometers). Last Friday most of Scotland's bridges were closed. The very cold rain, sleet and even watery snow has arrived, with which the wind plays havoc.

At this time of year we have very short days and as the summer months approach we have very long days of light, like the white nights. I have read a credit card outside at nearly midnight without the assistance of any other light; sadly, it wasn't my credit card...

If we have clear frosty nights, it is possible to view the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) when they appear. and last year they were spectacular. Our views are particularly good as we have a vista which is about 75% horizon; it almost feels like being in a bowl, which is a description that explorers to the North Pole often give of their experiences. There is no necessity to go to those extremes to find it, the intrepid traveller can experience the phenomenon in the far north of Scotland.

Tonight I got excited over the most unlikely activity: I learned how to understand and use more efficiently some of the fiddly bits in MS Word like auto text,using it to create emoticons into word documents (it might just take my fancy to do so,) and autowrap text around a nice picture of a lion. While I was enjoying the fun, my friend was reinforcing her learning for the advanced European Computer Driving Licence. A great time was had by all! D

The server must have indigestion, the web continues to behave like a 56K dial up service - I'd forgotten just what that experience was like; I wasn't really seeking to try it all over again. That's about a day of snail's pace, up to now. When you've got used to a speedier response it does test ones patience a bit.

I was so frustrated about it all this afternoon, I was busy blaming the whole of America for coming online for breakfast. Maybe I was a tad hasty.

The web is so slow tonight - I have time to gaze out of the window into the dark night and breathe a sigh of relief that I am no longer out there struggling against gale force winds, sleet and anything else that is thrown at us!

The street lights are blinking rather than wobbling so that's a good sign. I heard adjectives like 'mild', 'wet', and descriptors such as 'temperature rises', on the BBC weather forecast, but for the west; we're more east though sometimes we get some of the westerly experiences which can be good if they are advantageous. Ah, there's the wind howling and growling again and I am hearing it through double glazing.

Hubby has brought me my coffee which was made a while ago, saying "There we are, that should be nicely cold by now." What else can I do but agree. I drink it. I'll look forward to a hot one later.

The blog feeder wouldn't budge when I went to look at it. Perhaps I haven't offered it the right food to tempt it into activity. C'est la vie.

When I arrived home yesterday lunch time, my daughter had turned the kitchen into a steam laundry. I have no idea how, I haven't managed to perform that feat yet!

Tonight, I am roasting vegetables, including my swede (see my post, Gourmet sheep)butternut squash and home grown potatoes.

Ah; there are the dulcet beeps the fire alarm - dinner's ready.

Bon Appetit...D

I've dusted down the tome,
Then voluntarily proof-read for the last time;
Oh. A mistake that should have been deleted
first time round - done it now;
The bound copies I want returned for me are these -
not the first ones that were submitted with their error;
What has been sent passed the test,
I cannot point out the correction just made.
I'll have to trust to luck - though knowing mine,
It may not be the the best solution.

Time to rest now, I will put together the
final presentation tomorrow when,
I shall breath a sigh of relief and
smile, a big one...

People can be so kind and thoughtful:

We have a sheep farm backing onto our house which I can gaze at from my kitchen window. A 6ft high chain link fence separates us and all the other the neighbours' houses from it. This year the field behind our garden has been given over to growing cabbages and cauliflowers. When looking out of my kitchen window I have recently been seeing alien objects on the grass. They continue to appear. Two days ago my husband brought in a lovely cauliflower and a splendid swede (called a neep or turnip up here) with its majestic stalks and leaves attached.

The farmer gathers in the neeps for the sheep and the cauliflowers for his own consumption and from his tractor lobs these yummy fresh veg over the fence for us from time-to-time.

The neeps have an incredible flavour raw or cooked. When thanking the farmer (who was surprisingly bashful about his gifts to us) I commented on this flavoursome variety of neep; I found out that it is of a kind no longer grown - I don't why - however, the farmer had kept some seed back because the flavour appealed to him, and no doubt the sheep too, he therefore continues to grow this particular strain of root vegetable of which, we are gaining the delicious benefit

I go out without my gloves,I should use them; my hands get cold.

My hats stay unselected on the cupboard shelf; the wind is likely to whip off a hat.

I kid myself that my light raincoat hood will suffice; it is not used.

My husband tells me I should have had more cover around my neck; there was no need.

The day was bright and sunny;it is now a crisp clear night.

Is it the calling card for an early bed of snow?

Tonight, outiside, there are bangs, whooshes and screeches all around me that are in aid of the 'celebration' of the gunpowder plot of 1605. It is pitch black and the weather is cold and dry. All good circumstances for the best viewing of the community firework event being held down at the esplanade. I have chosen to stay at home and be warm.

We don't have a multicultural dimension of any great order here and the term cosmopolitan does not figure at all. It is therefore not possible to say that there is an overlay for other current celebrations such as Diwali. It would, I think, engender a magnificent display of pyrotechnics if there was such a combination.