Breakfast meeting

I had a hospital appointment in Stratford this morning, at a time when under normal circumstances I'd barely be starting to think about getting up. It was a bit of a shock to the system, to be honest, to both me and R, who'd sweetly offered to drive me. We stepped out into the coldest morning of the year so far - the car thermometer registering -3°C - and drove towards a misty sunrise.

I had a useful and productive meeting with the occupational therapist, but it went on for so long that by the time I tottered into town and joined R in today's café of choice, he was more than ready for a second coffee and both of us were raging for cake. After that we didn't have very much parking time left, so I yomped down to the river and along the south bank, to get in a few steps and look for photo opportunities, while R went off to run a couple of errands.

This scene was taking place on the far side of the Bancroft Basin as I was walking through the Gardens, and I stopped to record it because the woman was taking such obvious pleasure in her interactions with the black-headed gulls. R has chosen it for today's post because he likes the energy in it, and also on the grounds that it's a bit different to my usual shtick, which is fair enough. My own favourite of the day is a smart little dunnock, which I spotted rummaging for food at the base of the hedge surrounding the rowing club; I've posted that one to Facebook, if you'd care to see it.

This afternoon I decorated the Christmas tree, which isn't a task I particularly enjoy, but which I'm always very pleased to have done once it's finished. Today I kept myself calm and cheerful through the process by listening to Yevgeny Sudbin playing Scarlatti sonatas - music that never fails to unscramble my brain and make me happy to be alive. This evening there was more music, in the shape of the fourth-last rehearsal for the Chipping Campden Festival Chorus Christmas concert. It wasn't Scarlatti, and we're nowhere near the Sudbin league, but I enjoyed myself anyway: it's a good programme and I think it's going to be quite a special concert. On the way home the temperature dipped to -3° again, and with the sky crystal clear I think it will go lower overnight.