'and it was this big...'

A frustrating afternoon! Call from the salvage yard where the remains of our ex-car have ended up. They'd been asked by the insurance company to return our personal effects but, apparently, there was nothing in the car. So I spent couple of hours tracking down the items that seemed to have gone astray. Turned out that they were still in the car boot, but it was considered too dangerous for anyone to retrieve them. Fair enough.

Nothing worth having, I thought, until I sat down and wrote a list - and remembered that, as well as a lot of rubbish several items of no particular value, my down jacket had been in the 'winter emergency' box. Though it wasn't new (think I bought it 8 or 9 years ago when I was financially much better off than now!), it had been worn less than a dozen times, as  it was too warm for most occasions. A fabulous jacket - extremely warm, long enough to cover my bum, nice cosy hood, easy to store (easily squashed in to a stuff bag) and it was proper petite sizing (the pockets were in the right place, and the sleeves fit properly...). It's irreplaceable - and I had hoped it would outlast me!

So here's a photo of a rare photo of me, wearing said jacket on the beach at Lindisfarne on Boxing Day 2010 - the day the sea froze!