Gone to see a man .....

..... about a dog.

I had planned on working on finishing insulating my loft space today, but when I woke up the sky was blue outside and didn't want to spend the first relatively nice day this week stuck in the loft, so instead I decided to leave that for another day after all it's not as though it's going to get cold anytime soon :-/.

I spent an hour or so working on paperwork and putting together a few packages that needed posting out today and then went out for a walk to the post office. There has been a nip in the air today and for the first time since last winter I have needed to wear a hat diring the day to keep my head warm. Once all my morning jobs were out of the way I had a wander down to the local hedgerow to pick some sloes for this year's batch of sloe gin. The last few days have seen last year's batch deplete fairly quickly and as it takes about 10 weeks for sloe gin to mature (its slow sloe in more ways than one) I decided I best get started today. Picking enough sloes for the four bottles I wanted to make took about an hour and then it took about the same time to prick each individual sloe before adding them in to the bottles with the gin and some sugar. The four bottles are now under my stairs preparing themselves for Christmas.

Just as I had finished filling the last bottle of sloe gin I had a call from Mr M asking if I could give him a hand picking up a few wooden pallets that he is going to turn in to a log store. The pallets were more awkward to carry than they were heavy but we soon got the job done. Mr M then had to take his adopted dog Eban out for a walk and as I hadn't taken any photos today I said I'd join him on the walk so I could have a look for photo opportunities. We set off after the sun had set and the weather was getting increasingly cold, so instead of constantly stopping to take photos I took a quick outline light painting of Mr M and Eban in the park. Despite wearing my hat it was still freezing out, so the three of us (Eban had the deciding vote) decided to stop of at the riverside hotel for a pint and to warm up a bit. You all know how it is, one pint turns in to two and before you know a couple of hours have past and you're pissed a bit tipsy ( not helped by the fact that I didn't get around to having any lunch today ). Whilst in the riverside I had a text from Alison asking if I was at home, to which I replied (along with a photo of Mr M holding a pint and Eban looking almost as contented as Mr M) "I've gone to see a man about a dog".

When I eventually arrived back home after 9pm I cooked myself my favourite meal, put the log burner on and plonked myself on the sofa, that's me settled for the rest of the night.
So today's blip is .....


..... Gone to see a man about a dog.