Local royalty

The cool stags gang on Lochranza Golf Course was joined by this beauty this morning, showing the rest of them up. I don't think any of the rest have a total of more than 8 or 10 points. He was snootily wandering round the edges of the group, looking impressive and posing for the camera, or grooming himself to look better for the photos. There are less deer around at the moment after a cull recently, but still no shortage.

It was a very windy walk with the dog, but we made it home safely. I admit it was a little surprising was that Mum's washing was still on the whirligig (just!). Sadly the rain came down just as it was more or less finished drying, so it's had to go on the drying racks rather than away. That is more complicated since the housing association changed the central heating in all the houses on Mum's street last month. They took out the panel heaters (most of the house is storage heaters) in the bathrooms, which was where everyone dried their washing, and put them in the (very wee) kitchens instead. That is enough of a hassle, but the only heaters in the bathrooms now are fan things high on the walls that you have to switch on, and it blows hot air down at you for a while, then switches off automatically. It's effective when switched on, but there's no background heat, so it's freezing in there most of the time. Mum mentioned this to the engineer installing them, and he said she should just leave the bathroom door open to get the heat from the hall. Mum does that at night, which makes the bathroom much warmer in the morning, but it doesn't last long. It's also not a practical solution during the day, especially for the more elderly and less capable folk here, who have carers coming in and out at various times, as the front door opens inward right onto the open bathroom door. Mum's next door neighbour's son in law is a retired GP, and he's planning an official complaint as soon as the housing association senior staff are back at work after New Year, as he's scared that if any of the folk here (it is technically sheltered housing) fall in the bathroom and knock themselves unconscious, they will have hypothermia before anyone finds them, even if it doesn't take that long.