A cold snap hits Scotland, although we miss out on the deep snow

 

Image of the snow in Scotland, taken from the space station. 

Snow on hills across the water

Snow on its way in

Only a sprinkling. Missed out on the deep snow, so the toboggan has to remain in the loft for the time being

In the highlands we still manage to have the daffodils coming through

Yet the temperature is often 10 degrees below.

I can understand and appreciate why animals hibernate during the winter months as l slip back under the two quilts after making tea in the morning. Its minus 8 outside but feeling more like minus 16 with the effect of the wind chill factor. Fortunately the cricket has been aired on channel 4, so it’s a good excuse to snuggle down, guilt free whilst watching leather hit willow on the bone dry cricket pitch in India. Exciting.

It’s also a good excuse to eat more treats to build up energy whilst luxuriating between the sheets, but beware of crumbly croissants , the flakes get everywhere. Especially the extra calories that cling to the inactive body. 

Talking of food and guilty pleasures, another research published suggested eating a few handfuls of nuts a week could help ward off dementia.

It’s just what I need at the start of a new year. Another must have lifestyle tweak.

I’ve already given up hard alcohol, fatty meat, in fact most meats, doughnuts, panettone, all manner of Christmas goodies, fags, sunbathing, dairy, gluten, fossil fuels,  fizzy drinks, air travel, tea & coffee, sex, disposable plastic, fried food and social media.

It seems that someone somewhere is coming up with another action to make us live longer and supposedly better. Many emanating from quangos within the political system.

For an old grump like me, who was brought up eating dripping on toast with a good sprinkling of salt, digging around in the dirt as a child, eating the odd worm and wielding a pocket knife at the age of six, these reports smack of a Nanny State mentality.

Governments try to prohibit eating and drinking on public transport, except fresh water. They aught to travel in a typical American family car, often a meals on wheels scenario, with all manner of restaurant facilities within easy reach of the driver.

Political correctness goes even further on the use of the English language. Recently the American senate announced that mother father daughter brother and other gendered words describing family relationships would be removed from the house rules. Henceforth in official documents they will be replaced by the gender neutral terms parent child or sibling.

Closer to home, certain schools are proposing to adopt so called “gender neutral” language in an attempt to protect pupils who are undecided or questioning their identity. To me it’s transgender madness, airbrushing the words women and girls into oblivion.

The Scottish government recently moved in the same direction with a bill that stopped rape victims from being able to choose the sex of the doctor to examine them. Fortunately enough compassionate politicians managed to amend the “gender” ruling allowing the survivors of rape to pick the sex rather than gender of the person examining them after an attack.

Currently, Section 9 of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 allows victims of sexual assault to request an examiner of a particular gender. The worlds gone mad.

Good job l have some of my favourites tipples hidden away. Especially the Highland Park with a wee drop of water.

Presently keeping occupied by up cycling pieces of furniture. The Annie Sloan chalk paint is a great way to alter the look of a standard pine piece of furniture.

Originally started with a chest of draws, progressed onto a tv unit, then a wardrobe which has become Judith’s sewing and craft cupboard. Now it’s a bedside cabinet which is going into my office area.

Once they have had a couple of coats of paint, you wax them with either a clear or blackened wax, followed with a bit of elbow grease to buff them up.

Altered a chest of draws for the hallway. Needed to lower it as it covered the light switches. So l removed the bottom draw and then cut it down to size.

Looks good under the cow painting.

We have taken to patrolling the neighbourhood at night, although when I say night it is actually 7pm, but at this time of year in these current circumstances 7pm feels like midnight, with not a soul in sight.

The two of us stir crazy after a day locked in doors, hemmed in by the bitterly cold wind of the day, we escape. Meandering along the lane, under the clear starlit sky at the base of the foothills leading up into the forest.

Neither of us in search of anything more than a quick catch up of fresh and biting air to alleviate the tedium of being in lock down. The piece and tranquillity stretches out before us as we look into the vastness of the universe, before swiftly scurrying back to warm up in front of the log burner with a warming glass of Highland Park.

Headlines are presently full of Royal spats. The circus continues with Meghan now appearing on Oprah for her 90 minutes of fame.

For a couple who doesn’t want the publicity surrounding the crown, they are going about it in a funny way. Or is it just down to lining their pockets, after daddy Charles tightened the royal purse.

Moving on. 

Having time on our hands, we have been sorting out the attic. All those boxes of items that were once a must buy, now stored in the dark out of favour. 

So eBay offering £1 maximum sales charge was enough to encourage me to get them up for sale. They seem to come up with the free entry and reduced sale charges twice a month, so it’s a great opportunity to clear out smaller items. 

Over the passed few weeks we have managed to sell 60% of the items listed. 

Using a tablet simplifies the process, but the quick method does have its down side. Little sneaky things that get added by eBay without your knowledge that can only be amended by using a computer or laptop.

Nevertheless it’s great to clear out all those unwanted gems, and stretch your mind whilst manoeuvring through the uploading process on eBay.

We start by searching for the expected selling price by checking out similar items that have sold on eBay. This gives us a rough idea of what an item may achieve. Many people just search on items listing for sale, showing prices that people expect. Many are priced way too high to encourage bid frenzies. If you check the sold and ended items, it tells you the true worth, what people were prepared to pay for that item.

Many people come to sell jewellery and expect to achieve a profit on their original purchase, but that is often unrealistic as they have purchased the item at a retail price. If you have had years of pleasure from wearing the item, be pleased to just get something back. The cost of a ring that originally sold in a shop at £300 would be no more than £100. So as long as you achieve the present weight value of the gold or silver, you should be pleased.

We have a tendency to price items at a low rate to encourage bids. So the £300 ring would go up for a start price of £50, and we hope to achieve the gold selling price of £80. In fact we achieved £150.

It’s also fun to see what sells and at what price. It’s exciting to hear the ping on the phone to notify you have a bid. It’s always a surprise. Some items go for far more than expected, others just don’t sell or go for the starting price.

Lastly. It’s a known fact that the best time to have your item end is between 4pm and 7pm on a Sunday. 

Give it a try, you have nothing to loose other than time. You may get the selling bug.

Running water freezing as it runs off the hills. Amazing sight.

I will finish off with a few funnies. Then l can get back to clearing out more boxes from the loft.

A gigantic asteroid, taller than Britain’s largest peak, will safely pass the Earth on March 21, 2021. That hasn’t stopped Nasa from dubbing it a ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid because of its proximity to our planet. The asteroid, known as 231937 (2001 FO32), will zoom by at a safe distance of 1.2 million miles from Earth – the equivalent of five times further away than the Moon. In fact, Nasa dubs any space rock that comes within 93 million miles of us as a ‘Near Earth Object’ (NEO), which is three quarters of the 120 million-mile distance to Mars.

God bless and stay safe and COVID free. We will be able to break out soon.