It was a great pleasure to wake up knowing I didn't have to be anywhere today and I was delusional enough to believe the weather bureau which forecast sunshine. So a load of sheets went in the washer and were hung out, by which time it was clear they were lying. The sheets hung damply in the 98% humidity and temperatures between 4 and 6 degrees before being brought back in at 2:30 when it was clear the breeze was just not quite going to get them dry. they are now festooned over the airer in the kitchen.

It was also tip day today and I did a long-delayed run there to get rid of two bags of rubbish from the Bank, and one from here. After that I took my machine up to Caroline's. I nearly missed her as it turned out but we parked in the middle of the road and transferred the machine. One of the perks of country living is that you can do that without causing too many problems. The machine is the one I bought from Caro some time back while I was working. It works well but had clearly never been serviced for ages. So it is now getting a thorough service and hopefully being returned to me in peak condition. The bobbin tension has also been a problem lately, but I suspect that is mainly down to the accumulation of fluff and gunk inside it (so thick it is  now poking out of various appertures).

The children next door have announced their dog is pregnant (this is the dog that resulted from another unsheduled pregnancy in one of their other dogs). I do wish people would get their pets neutered for goodness sake! I am afraid I said just that to them - since they introduced the subject as an accident - one that could be avoided said I, if you get your pets neutered. Grumpy old cow that I am.

Stir fried rice for dinner tonight - last night's was surprisingly tasty considering the limited ingredients!

Much to my surprise i found myself cleaning one of the cottages this morning. It was a bit unforunate as I had started a pre-soak overnight loaf of bread. The results were, shall we say, leaden, but they taste OK and will sog into tonight's soup quite happily. Tonight is egg-drop soup with fried rice on the side. Egg drop soup is basically chicken and corn soup without the chicken and corn - chicken stock, sesame oil and soy sauce for flavouring, with beaten eggs stirred in at the boil. The fried rice was barely more complicated, being pre-cooked rice with peas and carrots and a scrambled egg mixed through. Add soy sauce and you have a strangely appetising meal.

Cottage cleaned I drove home through the fog and lit the fire, got some more cooking done and some reading and am now settled in for the evening.

Since when is it dark at 7 in the morning, BTW? I am always awake at that time but had not noticed until today that it is actually quite dark then. Only a week more till the turn of the year, but the mornings will continue to get darker for a while longer than that.

Friday 13th, a full moon and Mercury in retrograde - a good day to stay at home they said. So I did.

Well, I went into town to clean the bank, having slept in late and rushed in to get that done. It was a lovely day when I left home but I hit a wall of fog at the outskirts of Oatlands. By the time the bank was  squeaky clean it had spread to here too, and rain this evening rather finished things off I have to say.

So a day spent on Facebook and walking the dogs in the fog is all I have to report today.

Well, it did reach ten degrees yesterday. Just not until 9 pm. No wonder everyone is collapsing with colds and flu.

I am constantly amazed at the generosity of strangers!! A few days ago I advertised on Freecycle for a hamburger press. Those tupperware things that stack on top of each other so you can make and freeze hamburgers all in the same container. I wanted it because I thought it would be a handy thing for making the potato patties that are part of this meal plan I am following - you know, get even potato patties all the same size and depth so they cook evenly etc. No-one offered one so I was thinking I would need to ad lib - cut off  a section of plumbing pipe, cut discs of baking paper, find something to ram things down with - that sort of thing. But someone then responded offering to lend theirs. After some to-ing and fro-ing it turned out her husband was coming to Oatlands this week to help paint out a house and he would bring it up. So I went to collect it today and the bag seemed remarkably heavy. She had stocked it with a bag of onions, three mandarins, two kiwifruit, garlic, a large bag of tomatoes and goodness knows what else - what an amazingly generous soul she is.

I emailed back saying i would return it next week when I am down to get the cat food. She said, don't bother as she has found one on Ebay which she will be collecting soon. Stunned I am!

So fruit salad for dinner tonight to go with the leftover cabbage and mince chow mein!!

I am struggling to believe that it reached 10 degrees today - feels more like five - and that was in the warmer moments. The mist loitering around the hills probably had a lot to do with the chill factor.

The Bank had failed to leave its heating system on overnight (something I am usually glad of since they seem to set it on 30 degrees most of the time) and it was uncomfortable cold working there this morning despite a thick jumper. I turned on the heating while I was there then turned it off as I left.

Then I had a couple of hours to fill in as I had an appointment with Workskills at 11:00. So I popped round to Roberts's where it was rumoured they had some pallets to give away, collected four of them for the Garden (I would have collected more but still had stuff in the back of the ute from the Garden workshop that I had forgotten was there) and delivered them to the Garden to be put to use next week, then parked outside Workskills to play on FB for a while. Was interrupted in my meditations by Eleanor wanting to repeat her usual grievances about Council and other such matters before heading in to see them. No good news on that front, but that is hardly surprising I guess.

Home to walk the dogs and settled in in front of the newly lit fire waiting for things to warm up. They have by now, but it took a remarkably long time.

I heard back from the suppliers and it seems my pump has been discontinued (and a bloody good thing too as it was a piece of rubbish), but fitting a new pump will require considerable fiddling that lies outside my expertise, so I am stuck with getting a plumber in, if he ever gets back to me.

Still, at least  I have hot water.

Well the good news is that the motor of the pump is covered by insurance. There is the little matter of excess to consider, so I will cost the pump separately, and if it is cheaper to install it myself then I will do that instead. Not hard, I have had it out before to fix the leak, so it all depends on the costs involved.

Seb has been restless for much of the day and it was beginning to get on my wick. He and the cats were spending a lot of time in the bathroom, but when I investigated I could find nothing to explain it at all.

Was sitting on the sofa when I heard a loudish squeak alongside. There was the problem. A large baby rat has somehow found its way indoors (via Smidgen's mouth, I suspect), and all four animals had had a go at it. Despite all the 'attention' the poor little blighter was still alive (though not for long, I dispatched it).

There seems to be a bit of a rodent plague happening at present, but the animals seem to be keeping on top of it for me which is good. This one is sitting on the roof of the dog kennel for some passing raptor to take home with it.

There are certain, rarely appreciated merits to public holidays. One of these is that the neighbours sleep in. This was a good thing as Seb made a break for it this morning, so had anyone been awake they would have seen me walking up the main street of Parattah with a red leash in hand, wearing my pyjamas, green check men's dressing gown, bed head and red velvet slippers. Finally caught up with him in the side yard of the last house in town (phew) and managed to make it back home without witnesses (that I know of).

Things went downhill from there however, as the thermostat and pump on the hotwater system have failed. This became apparent when there were sounds of strong knocking from the roof top. On checking the roof temperature on the thermostat I discovered that it was 140 degrees. This normally only happens with a power failure but I had power. So I tried plugging it into a different power point and checking the fuse box. Neither had a result. Then I tried bypassing the thermostat and plugging the pump into another power point. That didn't work either. So I found the manual online and it suggested turning off the power for 10 minutes and they trying again. I left it for 25 minutes to be on the safe side, turned it back on, and with a bang and a flash the thermostat announced its intention to never work again. I can only hope it is covered by the insurance.

I suspect that things may have frozen overnight (minus 3) because although it has a failsafe frost system, I am not confident it has been working of late.

Apart from that, there is little to report as it has been sunny but downright chilly all day and I have stayed indoors with the fire.

Phone call to the insurance company on the books for tomorrow morning... :-(