Awake in cold; the lack of heating has another 8 days to go. I mean - what century are we living in? I can phone for food to be delivered to my door and get someone to arrive at my home and drive me anywhere, but my Dickensian landlord is so inept that they can't fix a boiler in 6 weeks and 5 attempts? WT absolute F.

After having to mess about with a password reset on the work iPad I finally sneaked out on the bike to meet and greet in the 'hood. First 3 calls? Trolleys outside. That put a smile on my (cold) face. 

There were others but once I left the dingier side of EH4, the frequency of trolleys plummeted in direct contrast to the increase in price of the houses I was passing through.

I made it to Her's at the same time as I was visited by the first migraine of 2024 (I should keep count, really I should)

An hour or so later, I was sufficiently revived to manage tea and another hour later I ventured out with the hound into the Muddows for his daily dose of brown stuff. 

I tried, dear reader, to summon up the energy to clear my reports but it was always a doomed endeavour. Shortly after Ronnie O'Sullivan saw off Barry Hawkins, I closed the laptop and again turned my attention to the hound. I also took out the new lens that arrived yesterday to see what it can do. Obviously on my budget it is not all singing and all dancing; more a faint warble accompanied by a gentle swaying mostly in time to the music. But. I know this, and I can make it work for me. I just need some practice / experience. So in between / along with the dog walking, I snapped a few things to see how it all works. 

Spicy pork stew as served around the lass going to visit her dad and the accompanying drama that is always in both their orbits that erupts when they actually met. 

I was glad to be able to slope off into the night and resuming freezing quietly in peace and quiet; to the music of today's excellent discovery -  Caterina Barbieri (specifically Ecstatic Computation, but others are already being explored, too)