Another cold day...saw a cock and hen pheasant under the bird table today - a sign that they are hungry with the cold.  I've been putting extra food out.  Watched a robin get blown over twice in the wind this morning...he just bounced right up again though!

No hot water mid-morning :(  after checking and re-checking I rang the heating engineers, and they said it is safe to use the immersion meantime and they will visit on Tuesday.  In the evening, I found I had piping, almost scalding, water (the immersion was only on for about 20 minutes).  So I have no idea what happened, whether all the hot water was used in the morning (don't know how)...perhaps because it is so cold outside?  Or whether it stopped working for a bit and came back on...don't know how that could happen.  And I face the embarrassment of phoning them back on Monday morning to tell them I made a mistake...