Our neighbour's garage

Garage footings under construction

Our next door neighbour is having a garage built next to his bungalow. It is not in our view and it will not affect us. Sadly access to this is disputed between him and our local museum who own part of the access track he wants to use, as I understand things.

I don't want to get involved in the dispute as I am friendly with both sides. It seems to be a dispute that could so easily have been avoided though.  Silly how such petty arguments can be the cause of so much distrust and bad feeling. If it had been me I'd have put the garage in the same place but gone in directly from the road instead, thereby avoiding all the bad feelings created.

FTSE 100

The FTSE 100 share index has fallen this morning, although it may be staging a bit of a comeback?  Sepura shares (my old company) also seem to be sliding a bit too.

Snow - at last

We get very little snow over here these days. Today we had the first real snow of the winter, although amounts were small by the standards elsewhere in the UK. This photo was taken this morning around breakfast time.

UPDATE 1525z:  All our snow has now gone. Winters over here are far less severe than they used to be.  Global warming? If we get even a few days with snow on the ground is now the exception. If the wolrd is warming, it could be critical later in the century. The evidence does seem to be pointing to a warming world, although the increase has perhaps stalled in the last 10 years. The sooner we stop subsidising fossil fuels and adapt to renewable energy sources the better.

At one time we could count on at least a couple of weeks of real snow. Last winter we only had a couple of mild frosts. I am not complaining, but if the world

MH370 mystery

The Malaysia airliner disappeared 6 months ago and not a single trace of it has been found. It is presumed tragically lost in an accident with total loss of life of all on board, somewhere in the South Indian Ocean. Conspiracy theories continue, and will continue, until some evidence of its crash is found.  It is surprising that nothing at all has been seen.  By now I would have expected something to have been spotted.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26503141 .

Stroke update

Last year I was expecting to be fully back to my old self well before now. As it is, I am still some way from that position. Overall, I think I am still improving, but the big leaps I was expecting don't seem to be happening. Perhaps I should be satisfied with slow, small, moderate steps?   I still feel as if I am living in a bit of a dream world, I still feel drunk when walking (feel giddy), still tire easily, and drinking thin liquids is still not easy.

Overall, I am getting slowly better, but perhaps I should expect to be left with a level of disability and will be pleasantly surprised when I get fully fit again. Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic? Whatever, I am not giving up: I want my "old self" back again this year.

FTSE 100 down today?

London's FTSE 100 share index is currently down 58 points, probably as a result of Greek default fears and its impact on trade into the Eurozone. Currently it seems to be stabilising down.

UPDATE 2204z:   The FTSE 100 share index ended the day 0.22% lower than yesterday.

Lavenham, Suffolk

The Swan Hotel in Lavenham (see image RHS) was where our younger son and his wife had their wedding reception. Years before I came here on a course. Food was fabulous and after a week I had put on 8 lbs.

Today we visited Lavenham and ate a simple lunch at the Angel Hotel opposite the Guildhall. It had recently gone back to being a real pub with soup and sandwiches on the lunchtime menu.

Weather was January! 5-6 deg C, rainy and miserable, although it brightened up after lunch with a cold, biting wind.