for not so small mercies. Seriously, my garden is under water, but I am so lucky compared with so many others. This is the best bit, the one corner of my garden, nearest the house. The bottom part is much deeper in water and I could only get a blurred picture from the bedroom window, so no actual pictures. I have to wear my wellies to get down to my chickens, who are luckily in a covered run on higher ground. Even so, the inside is a bit soggy underfoot – the deep straw has soaked up a lot of the rain run off, but the only really dry bit is under the chicken house itself [which is raised]. We are nice and dry indoors and we have power! Not so small mercies indeed. My daughter and granddaughter in East Sussex are without power yet again. Megan had about 7 days without power over the holiday, my daughter about two days, but Megan had heat and hot water,[wood burning stove]  but no power, Debbie did not. Their village has no mains gas, so Debbie has oil central heating – which of course needs electricity to pump!! I managed to find some wind up storm lamps to send down, so they won’t be relying on candle power this time and will at least be able to read.  I really feel for those who have had their homes ruined or destroyed – your home is much more than just a house and shelter and we can often take it for granted when times are OK don’t we?

I hope that you have all kept safe and dry and free from the dreaded lurgy that everyone seems to be going down with. I have a long long bucket list of things I want to do and an equally long one of things I ought to do. So onward and upward – I have to summon the energy – both physical and mental – to organise things to get on and hopefully soon we could be looking at this