Stormzy

We've just emerged again after another weekend of power cuts. First there was storm Malik which came to us from Denmark, closely followed by storm Corrie. We lost all power and communications at 9 am on Saturday morning and the early indications were that SSE would manage to restore it by lunchtime Sunday, but as we got nearer to that target, it moved dramatically further away to midnight on Tuesday. We decided it might be best if we just went away for a while so I booked us a room at a Holiday Inn in Edinburgh for tonight (Monday).

We settled down for another night without power on Sunday when suddenly the lights came on again - a full 2 days' earlier than forecast! Great news but storm Corrie was now arriving so would we lose power again? Thankfully not so far. We woke up on Monday morning and despite the noise of the storm overnight we still had power. There were reports of further trees blocking roads so we decided it was best for us to stay put and postpone our trip to Edinburgh and enjoy the "luxury" of home heating, lighting and communications again.

Ironically, these storms have come in the middle of a winter that has been overwhelmingly mild with very little wind - lots of clear, still days. So far, we've had 4 power cuts - 3 of them coming in the aftermath of Storm Arwen.

Covid restrictions have been steadily reducing throughout all 4 nations and there are very few left now. Today was the first official day when workers are allowed to go back to offices, although I suspect the hybrid home/office model will continue for some time. On Friday night, for the first time in over 2 years, I went to the Legion and joined my pals for a few pints. It felt a bit strange at first but it was OK. I'm starting to feel a bit more hopeful about being able to travel this year, but I don't want to count my chickens.

Not many photos to show - just a couple of Luca wearing the Man Utd strip we bought him for his birthday:

Chris' and Kelly's pool is coming along: