Thursday 1 December 2022

Photos in Advent - December 1st

 After the A-Z posts through November .....and thank you to everyone who said they enjoyed reading.... it's back to normal this month with general news of what I've been up to, as well as a Christmassy or winter photo every day of December until the 25th for Photos in Advent 2022.

The December Country Diary plate is having it's first outing along with some of the usual winter and Christmas bits that come out of the cupboard every year.  




The small snow globe, the bell and the snowman were all from charity shops, the house belonged to my Mum and the big snow-globe was bought the Christmas after Colin died- I decided it was a late gift from him for Christmas 2018.


Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat

(from The Months by Sara Coleridge)


 December was originally the 10th month and takes it's name from the Latin decem meaning ten. The Anglo Saxons called  it Wintermonarth and then after their conversion to Christianity Halighmonarth meaning Holy month

There are a few bits of weather lore that would have been familiar to people in times past, before we had scientific weather forecasting.

Rain on the first Sunday before Mass, rain for the week

Thunder in December foretells fair weather 

Jerome K Jerome - best know for 'Three Men in a boat' said - sometime around the beginning of the 20th century -
  " If December passes without snow, we indignantly demand to know what has become of our good, old fashioned winters, and talk as if we had been cheated out of something we had bought and paid for; and if it does snow, our language is a disgrace to a Christian Nation"


I wonder what sort of weather we'll get in December this year. November ended very wet but still not too cold, and that means the grass has kept growing but it's never dry enough to cut.

 Being fairly mild means less heating oil is getting used. The remote control thermostat is set in 6 different time periods so if I do nudge it up a couple of degrees in the late afternoon or evening it only stays at that temperature for 2 hours at the most, that way I never forget to turn it down again. At 8pm it reverts to overnight setting and the room stays warm enough until 10pm when I head off to bed.
I've not lit the wood stove much at all as yet but that will be used as the weather gets colder and I'm indoors more.

I was looking back at how much heating oil cost through 2020 at Clay Cottage and found it was at it's lowest price during the pandemic. In that summer 500 litres was less than £200. I've just had my new oil tank topped up and 750 litres was over £600. That means it's almost doubled in 2 years.
Users of oil for heating are supposed to be getting £200 towards the huge price rise but no one has worked out how to pay it to us as yet and I shall get the pensioners winter fuel allowance too. With the  unasked for monthly "donations" from the government towards electric, my fuel bills will be very small  BUT one way or another sometime in the future we will all have to pay for it and all the Covid handouts.  I fear this will fall on working tax payers like my children.


Back Tomorrow
Sue

27 comments:

  1. I love your little arrangement for December. I've been decorating too these last few days. Next will be cookie baking and the cards to finish.

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    1. I'm going to cheer the room by getting the tree up sooner than usual

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  2. I've been enjoying listening to residents tell of their current decoration status. So far no one has asked me mine!

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  3. I loved Edith Holden's book and her plate is just as pretty (so is your mother's little house). We have had a very wet November as well but the days are slowing getting warmer here, not colder :)

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    1. Hope the winter here isn't too cold - I'm not a fan of snow and ice anymore

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  4. That's a sweet collection you have displayed there. I have to start hauling my bins up from the basement. I have quite a bit I place around the house! I usually start in December - so soon!!

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    1. Now I just have a Christmas tree and the top of the bookshelves - that's enough for me

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  5. I like Edith Holden very much and you've reminded me to get out my Country Diary to see what December looks like.

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    1. Finding all 12 plates at a boot sale was one of my favourite finds of the year

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  6. I don't know if you have seen the media articles about the ban on replacing oil boilers due in a couple of years time, the only replacements allowed will be heat pumps at at least £10-15k more than a simple oil boiler would have been. And that's not counting other costs for upgrading insulation so that the heat pumps can actually warm the house. Let's hope that your boiler is good for a fee years yet.

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    1. I've heard that air source heat pumps never get warm enough. Hope the boiler will last. Many people will never afford the air or ground source heat exchangers - we will all be freezing

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  7. Heating oil and LPG are so expensive now. I'm so glad that we moved from our park home just before the pandemic and don't have to worry about the LPG running out at the worst possible time. We probably wouldn't have received the £66 a month either because we were charged directly by the landlord for electricity. I do worry about the people we left behind on the park as they are mostly over 70 yrs old.
    Love your Christmas shelf 🎄🎅

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    1. I keep thinking about an LPG hob which I've always had before but have got used to the easy cleaning of the induction so I'm not sure

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  8. I love the little scene. But that picture in the back? Who did that? It puts me in mind of Watership Down.

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    1. The picture is a print. I bought it and a matching one of an owl from an art show a few years ago

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  9. Loving the quote from Jerome K Jerome - how very true it is. xx

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    1. I don't want snow anymore - but I expect children still hope for some

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  10. I changed from LPG hob to induction a couple of years ago - would never go back. So much quicker and cleaner and no need to a gas inspection.

    Got a quote for 1000 litres of oil £830. Not that many years ago we paid £350. Luckily we have a wood burner and dont use that much oil. Only had the heating on once this year, and that was because we had guests. We do wear a lot of layers and sit under a blanket when watching TV.

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    1. Had 23 years of heating solely by wood and fetching and cutting every bit! Now enjoying the simplicity of an oil fired boiler, and of course no free wood anymore.

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  11. I really enjoyed the quote from Jerome K Jerome. Yes the handouts here in the US will fall on the taxpayers too. We are on heating oil too and it is very expensive here. But we have a woodstove that keeps us out of the poor house. We have had a bit of snow but nothing that has stayed. My daughter and granddaughter are skiers, so they pray for snow. We have the prince and princess here in the US a couple of hours from us. I would have loved to see them, but I was not willing to brave the traffic, the crowds, or the rain yesterday.
    Cathy

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    1. The ski resorts in Scotland are probably hoping for snow too but we rarely get snow here in Suffolk in December, might be some in January or February

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  12. Your Christmas display is lovely. Like you, I'll buy the big tree soon (today or tomorrow) and decorate it within a week. My wreaths are hung on the outside doors; they make a nice welcome statement and make me smile. Did you hang your wreaths? I am so ready for holiday cheer and celebrations. It is much colder today. We went from mild 50 degrees F to freezing. The sun is shining brightly and that's good for everyone. Still no snow. I can sacrifice snow now for snow Christmas day. Oil, gas, electric, groceries and everything else is a bit dismal. Who cares...let's celebrate Christmas.

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  13. My tree comes out of a box in the garage - it's too difficult for me to have a real tree nowadays. Don't need the mess of clearing it up

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  14. The Christmas display looks lovely. My tree is out from under the bed but still in its box, although all the advent calendars are now in use.

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  15. I have my Advent calendar up and running, but am still cleaning in preparation for decorating!

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  16. I hope it stays mild so you don't have to have the heating on too much. Ours has, unfortunately been on quite a bit this month. My bill has already gone up a lot in the last month. Sigh. I love those plates. Did you end up with the whole series? Have you taken a photo of all of them together?

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