Fortnights and Furlongs...
The extra snow forecast for the end of last month did turn up. It wasn't as heavy as it might have been, but it was accompanied by a distinct drop in temperature which had me putting the boiler into constant mode to stop the house from freezing. For a while the place also looked quite pretty.
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
On Tuesday evening there was a radio club steak night scheduled. I opted to walk through the woods rather than drive, as there was enough snow around to make the prospect of driving interesting. In the end only a couple of us made it to the pub, but there was indeed steak. The roads were not anything like as bad as I'd feared, and I was able to catch a bus most of the way home afterwards.
Wednesday was a relatively quiet one. I walked to the shops, and also spent a little while clearing snow off my car, but as the astronomical society had cancelled their evening meeting I didn't have to go out.
Thursday morning's Morse practice went well enough. I then set about de-frosting my car, and after lunch I headed for Stansted, having taken a few supplies to help should the journey prove more difficult than expected. Traffic was much less heavy than is normal for a weekday, and the return trip ended up being a smooth and uneventful journey.
Friday was another relatively quiet day with a late start. By the evening more snow was falling, and we decided not to head over to Gravesend for gaming.
We did go over to Gravesend on Saturday evening, though. By then the roads were clear and much of the snow had melted. Most of the rest of the snow was gone by Sunday afternoon. Quite a bit of the rest of the weekend was spent tidying the kitchen. I did manage to catch the radio club top-band Net on Sunday morning, though.
On Monday we did a dump run, and then some shopping, and I didn't get out to the radio club meeting in the evening.
On Tuesday morning we were up early to meet a flight at Gatwick. All things considered, it went smoothly, and we got home in good time. The rest of the day felt a bit jet-lagged, though, and we didn't do much more than the minimum shopping.
On Wednesday we headed for Bristol. The traffic on the way there was fine, as, for the most part, was the weather. We stayed 'til a bit after 3pm before heading home, and the return journey was not quite as smooth as the outward one. We got back in time for me to catch enough of the 6:30pm seminar at my GP's surgery to know what it was about, and the hand-outs covered most of the rest.
Thursday morning's Morse practice broadcast went better than any for quite a while, even though the signals weren't the best. We did a bit of shopping, sorted out a bit more of the kitchen, and then went for a long walk in High Elms Woods late in the afternoon.
On Friday there was another trip to Stansted, in more normal weekday traffic. I was home shortly after 1pm. In the evening I went over to Gravesend. The traffic was stickier than usual, in unexpected places, but it didn't take me much longer than usual to get there.
Saturday was a quiet day. I spent some of it listening for SOTA activations, but there'd been some elevated Solar activity, and propagation wasn't wonderful, so I didn't catch any.
On Sunday I was up early to help with the middle day of a radio club Intermediate course. I didn't have any talks to deliver this time, but there were projects to check and plenty of questions to answer. There was a thunderstorm as we were packing up, so when I got home I had to dry quite a few things off before I could settle down for a quiet evening.
Today's been another quiet one. So far, I havn't even turned the radio on, but I may catch a Morse practice broadcast this evening...
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
On Tuesday evening there was a radio club steak night scheduled. I opted to walk through the woods rather than drive, as there was enough snow around to make the prospect of driving interesting. In the end only a couple of us made it to the pub, but there was indeed steak. The roads were not anything like as bad as I'd feared, and I was able to catch a bus most of the way home afterwards.
Wednesday was a relatively quiet one. I walked to the shops, and also spent a little while clearing snow off my car, but as the astronomical society had cancelled their evening meeting I didn't have to go out.
Thursday morning's Morse practice went well enough. I then set about de-frosting my car, and after lunch I headed for Stansted, having taken a few supplies to help should the journey prove more difficult than expected. Traffic was much less heavy than is normal for a weekday, and the return trip ended up being a smooth and uneventful journey.
Friday was another relatively quiet day with a late start. By the evening more snow was falling, and we decided not to head over to Gravesend for gaming.
We did go over to Gravesend on Saturday evening, though. By then the roads were clear and much of the snow had melted. Most of the rest of the snow was gone by Sunday afternoon. Quite a bit of the rest of the weekend was spent tidying the kitchen. I did manage to catch the radio club top-band Net on Sunday morning, though.
On Monday we did a dump run, and then some shopping, and I didn't get out to the radio club meeting in the evening.
On Tuesday morning we were up early to meet a flight at Gatwick. All things considered, it went smoothly, and we got home in good time. The rest of the day felt a bit jet-lagged, though, and we didn't do much more than the minimum shopping.
On Wednesday we headed for Bristol. The traffic on the way there was fine, as, for the most part, was the weather. We stayed 'til a bit after 3pm before heading home, and the return journey was not quite as smooth as the outward one. We got back in time for me to catch enough of the 6:30pm seminar at my GP's surgery to know what it was about, and the hand-outs covered most of the rest.
Thursday morning's Morse practice broadcast went better than any for quite a while, even though the signals weren't the best. We did a bit of shopping, sorted out a bit more of the kitchen, and then went for a long walk in High Elms Woods late in the afternoon.
On Friday there was another trip to Stansted, in more normal weekday traffic. I was home shortly after 1pm. In the evening I went over to Gravesend. The traffic was stickier than usual, in unexpected places, but it didn't take me much longer than usual to get there.
Saturday was a quiet day. I spent some of it listening for SOTA activations, but there'd been some elevated Solar activity, and propagation wasn't wonderful, so I didn't catch any.
On Sunday I was up early to help with the middle day of a radio club Intermediate course. I didn't have any talks to deliver this time, but there were projects to check and plenty of questions to answer. There was a thunderstorm as we were packing up, so when I got home I had to dry quite a few things off before I could settle down for a quiet evening.
Today's been another quiet one. So far, I havn't even turned the radio on, but I may catch a Morse practice broadcast this evening...