New week, new snow

New post in a new week and we have new show this morning. Proper snow this time. I've just been down to the bottle bank and I had to move several inches of snow from the car - soft fluffy stuff on top, then slabs of frozen snow underneath. It's beautiful outside just now, but it appears there's going to be more snow. Thankfully we have all wheel drive so it's not really a problem getting about - not that we're doing much of that. We're sticking to the essential travel only, including exercising as close to home as possible. I know a lot of people are interpreting this differently - staying within Aberdeenshire but travelling as far as Loch Muick, Dinnet and even Braemar for their exercise. I am making a point of starting and moving the car at least once a week, however, but we don't drive very far at all - just enough to give the battery a little boost and to make sure the brakes haven't seized. Last Monday's drive to Crathes - all of 3 miles - was the longest we've undertaken recently. I can't remember why, but at our Friday night Footballers' Zoom call - and also the previous evening's call with Barry, Helen and Dawn - where Dad and I used to work came up:

I started work there in 1972 - Dad had already been there for a few years. I think the site would only have opened in the late '60's, but not long after we returned from our spell down south, Buchanan's/Distillers/Diageo were out of there - possibly the early '80's? The site and the tower block where I worked for 18 months or so before the move to head office in London, is still there, of course, but it's now a multi-purpose business park. This morning's post brought our new jigsaw puzzle:

I was originally thinking I may keep this one once we've completed it and put it on the wall in the office/studio, but we need to find something to lay it on first. I've just finished another brew with my Pinter kit (https://thegreatergood.co.uk/) so now it's in the garage for conditioning for a few days. The last one I did was a stout and it was good - I'm hoping this IPA works out well. It's kind of cheat/shortcut brewing and not particularly cheap but when the pubs are all shut and there's no real ale available, it's the next best thing. To stave off the continuing lockdown boredom, I've also bought tickets to two upcoming CAMRA (virtual) events: Great British Beer Festival (Winter) - 19-21 March; and Beer and Chocolate Tasting - 4 April