Thursday, March 01, 2018


The Aga people phoned at 8:30 last night to say that they wouldn’t be coming, after all – a prudent decision. I can’t remember weather like this. Big snows, yes. Days and days of rain, yes. But this is a STORM, and it goes on and on.

Drummond place, from my doorstep, early afternoon. I was trying to photograph the air being full of small snowflakes, blizzard-fashion, but didn’t really succeed. You'll have to take my word for it. The wind is roaring out there tonight, and whining in the window frames. I don’t know whether it’s snowing or not. It’s very cold.





I was afraid that something like this would prevent us getting to Palermo, travelling as we were during the first week of January when things have been known to turn nasty. But we were fine.

And, good news: I was able to turn my poor old Aga back on (it had been extinguished prior to removal). Sometimes that’s hard to do, but latterly – most recently on my return from Palermo – its behaviour has been exemplary. And, don’t worry, I have other heat, hither and yon – but none in the kitchen except for the Aga. So today I was able to make myself porridge for breakfast and sit there idly and warmly with my cats. And again tomorrow, I hope. The forecast is for more of the same.

I have just heard from Helen, wherever she is – Jordan? Israel? Greece? – that her youngest son Fergus’s boarding school here in Edinburgh has given all the boys weekend leave because of the weather. He will be very welcome here if he can get here. There have been no buses today. He can go out and get cat litter, which I am running seriously short of.

I’m well provided with food – with my new kitchen looming, I need to empty the freezer anyway.

I went successfully on with the Soutache. Pattie, I love your friend’s advice: “Admire your work often”. EZ said the same thing, more brutally: “Look at your knitting”. Alas, this approach doesn’t help with my brioche problems. If a stitch or two slide off the needle right there where I am, I can’t see how to get them back up, and a Messy Spot ensues.

I’m getting better, though, and the overall effect is OK as long as I keep the ribs intact.

15 comments:

  1. I'm glad you were able to turn your Aga back on, Jean. When I read the BBC news this morning I was worried about you sitting in your flat, shivering from the cold. Having been in kitchens with Agas I knew that even if there was another heat source in your home it wouldn't be able to make up for the wonderful warmth those stoves provide. Hopefully Fergus is able to make his way over to you, and also hopefully your power stays on.

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  2. Very relieved to hear that you have been able to relight the AGA. This is not weather to be taken lightly. I think of those drivers stuck on the M80 for sixteen hours - what could that have been like?

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    1. And thousands of others, scarcely less to be pitied, bedding down in stations and airports. And the homeless...

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  3. Anonymous10:13 PM

    Glad to hear you will be warm,we worry you know! I live up on the hills in Somerset,right under the "red weather warning" you see on the weather maps. It's bitterly cold, snowing steadily since 3pm. After looking out the window I think I'll be digging my way down to my poor hens in the morning...seriously thinking about bringing them into the utility room...

    Sarah.

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  4. You succeeded admirably well with your photos, Jean. Looks very snowy to me. Fergus will be very welcome, I am sure, and not just to fetch cat litter. I have 3 cats who love to go out, but when there is snow on the ground they look at me very reproachfully, as though I am the cause of it all, and refuse to understand that I cannot snap my fingers and make it go away.

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  5. Thinking of you - wish I could send some of our heat!

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  6. Better this storm now than in a couple weeks when all the knitters will descend on your beautiful city!?

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  7. Phew. Glad to hear warmth is restored to you.

    More snow in Edinburgh overnight. Not too cold though - it's just around freezing now and things are starting to drip - nothing like the -12 we had in the snow/winter of 2010-2011!

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  8. I am in Washington DC where it was mild for the past two days and some of the trees beginning to flower. I saw a bed full of blooming hellebores, while mine at home are still under the snow. This morning there are 30-50 mph winds with sleet. The poor flowers. Glad you are warm and indoors.

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  9. Here in southwestern most Vermont it is 36 degrees and snowing enormous Ivory Flakes! A Nor’easter is a brewing; waiting for the wind to pick up. Stay warm, this too shall pass.

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  10. It’s sleeting here on the edge of a nor’easter that may dump 6 inches or may be one inch. I have to trudge into work. When I would much rather be here on the sofa cuddled with the cats. Sigh

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  11. I remember back in 2010(?) it was lack of cat litter that finally drove son and I out the house, down to Tesco with the sledge. Will the cats use shredded newspaper with a small amount of litter mixed in?

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  12. =Tamar6:37 PM

    Very glad to hear that you have both the AGA and another source of heat. I'm near Washington D.C. and although it didn't snow, we are having very strong winds and a bit of rain. With any luck it'll be mostly past here tomorrow. Stay warm!

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  13. Hoping you have a lovely visit with your grandson:)! Isn't it wonderful to spend time one-on-one with them? And how lucky he is to have to there for him!

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