Anybody else up yet?

I have just got back from a long walk with all the family and the two dogs, around Rabbit Island, and now we are about to have a bbq.
I was awake at 6 a.m. as usual- I am now living by NZ time - and made myself a cuppa and logged on here immediately.
It is now 6. 50 p.m. so I look forward to reading some more posts within the next few hours.
At home in the Alps, I also snuggle under a thermal blanket, although my little flat is incredibly well insulated and I hardly ever need to use the electric radiator. I have a comfortable double bed in a separate room, but I prefer to stay on my settee, where I can watch TV, listen to the radio, read, log-on, or listen to music/The World Service, when I find difficulty in sleeping.
I have my own little room here and there is a lavatory just outside, so I don't need to wake the family by flushing the bathroom toilet. I am very snug and private when I want to be, but I can join the family in the living room or TV room any time I feel like company. This is the way it will be when I am living in a cabin in the garden.

"Make me a willow cabin at your gate..."

Sounds ideal Greatnan. One of the reasons for our proposed move next year is to be nearer to our children; we have never lived nearby and sometimes I imagine being in the town and just bumping into my DD. We have no intention of living in their pockets; it's just to be able to know that they are there. And there is the sea, of course, which is a huge attraction too.

good morning. yes it is a dark and wet one in the uk. Nice quote.
Ah rabbit island - we took some great photos there of 2 baby cormorants. shags as they call them, which always feels a bit rude. Like all NZ native birds incredibly unafraid, just sitting at our feet really, preening. Glad that the festive season is finally over although it was nice to have 3 peaceful days with DH, who shook off his cold in record time. A long task list seems to have accumulated so it is back to trying to keep motivated. This is the proper new years day...

Yes, I love both the sea and the mountains and we have the best of both worlds here in South Island. At home, I just have the mountains now but I can get to Lake Geneva in 20 mins, which is so big it might as well be the sea. I used to live on the Mediterranean coast, between Perpignan and the Spanish border, and I had easy access to the Pyrenees.
It is lovely living with my family, but I am looking forward to moving here permanently and having my own little home again. Once you get used to living alone, it is hard to share your space with anyone, no matter how much you love them.

Morning all.
I was woken by the wind a little while ago.....but have had a reasonable sleep.

Sometimes I am tempted to hand over the house to my DD, and live in the garden, but no cabin yet...anyway she probably wouldn't like to be out of Oxford!
One thing about being here, is that the sea is as far away as it could possibly be from here, and I miss it. It's, I think, five years since I walked by the waves.
Getting nostalgic here. I was born near the sea, but it's the summer holidays in Scotland I remember.

Every morning as dawn breaks the jackdaws and rooks leave their woodland roosts and head off together in a north west direction past my house. heading for low lying farmland i think. You can hear them chatting to each other to keep in contact. At dusk they fly back. Nice to hear them go past, a natural event and so predictable.

"The crow makes wing to the rooky wood...." Sorry - it's my ragbag mind again. (And practically knowing "Macbeth" off by heart in this case!)

Up and waiting for a clear day, plans to watch the starling murmuration at West Ham near Glastonbury!

My oak tree is still standing, thank goodness. The gales yesterday were very bad, and there was a really strange roaring that I've never heard before. Think perhaps it could have been the high wind coming through the trees over the fields and picking up speed as it came along the river. The ring-collared doves are starting to pair up - Spring must be just around the corner.

I came back through the bay of biscay yesterday! Great fun. It was blowing force 10 in Southampton when we berthed this am. Nice to be home though. How are you all? I missed your fun while away.love to all!

Ariadne - i have the same kind of mind and for the same reason - quotes galore from all the stuff I've taught in a lifetime of teaching 'Eng Lit' and especially the Bard. Isn't this quotation meant to prove that Shakespeare didn't know the difference between a crow and a rook?

And jeni, welcome back. Do you have any good stories about your adventures on the cruise?

Yeh Jeni. Did you get up to any mischief like you did before? Did you wear all your evening gowns?

Annobel we had George mcgavin of lost planet fame at our dinner table. He was giving some guest lectures. He had us eating fried crickets. Very nice with soy sauce,but I think they would be nicer with some chilli as well. He was very funny and a most entertaining dinner companion. The weather was not bad and I went on port sherry and Madeira tastings and learned how to make a proper paella.Three cocktail parties with the captain and six formal evenings. I could now do with a holiday to recover. I reckon my crutches must be the most travelled in the world! Booked my next trip which goes to the holy land in September. Wow early night tonight!

JessM. What me mischief? Never! I took 7 dresses and only wore 6. .but 4 cocktail dresses as well!

Today I woke up to realise that my pyjamas were wet, so was the bed. Oh dear. I got up, removed pyjamas and put on clean ones, then set about finding out how wet the bed was. Sheet off, underblanket off, lift mattress to look under and it is soaked right through. I dragged the mattress off the bed and hauled it along the landing to prop it against the wall at the head of the stairs hoping for the benefit of the current of air to assist in the drying of it and then went back to make up the spare bed. I also have a spare hot watter bottle so will still be warm later. The lesson I would like to pass on is that it is never a good idea to sleep on top of your hot water bottle.

Oh Cyril!!! I was wondering if you were going to be asking for advice on continence products!! !!

He did keep us guessing right to the end

I thought the roof was leaking!

Ha! I thought his water bed had sprung a leak

Good morning all - tentatively returning, after feeling I had lost my perspective on another thread the other day.

Good morning, butty. I thought you had gone quiet. Lovely pink dawn here today.

How lovely to wake up to see the trees just waving gently in the early morning sunlight - a bit of a change from the last week; long may it continue. Hope super is soon connected again - we have been missing her wise and wonderful input

Good morning all, I'm not usually on here so early but I'm starting the daunting task of gutting my dad's bungalow, so I'm trying to get going!
(Not doing too well at that!)

Oh b****r!! One more cuppa won't hurt!