Dark days and warm places

St Gatien

Not terribly unusual that I was up early this morning - the unusual thing is that it wasn't because the cats dragged me out of bed. Quite the opposite in fact. Figgy, who has been sleeping on our bed every night for the last week or so since we 'liberated' him from the cattery, was nowhere to be seen.

He crawled in late last night and after a brief kneading of Jon's lap disappeared somewhere in the house and hid.

He didn't stir when I popped down to the kitchen to give him his late night Whiskas kitten food (the only 'wet' food he gets) a ritual he usually loves and waits for.

So when I woke early and he still hadn't stirred I began to worry. As I roused myself, Misty appeared and asked to be let out, so I pottered down to the kitchen at 6am and couldn't be bothered to go back to bed. Figgy finally appeared about 15 minutes later but I still don't know where from.

They've both been out on their usual morning patrol and are back indoors looking for fires, blankets and warm spots.

At 8.30am it is finally just about light. I hate these dark mornings but then in the UK I used to hate the dark evenings. There was nothing worse than going to work in the dark and arriving back home in the dark. If I didn't get out of the office at lunch time it was as if I didn't see the light of day for weeks. Our weather has been very dull for a week now but there is light on the horizon as the forecast for Sunday is sun all day.

We had a good day yesterday. We finally were both fit enough to spend a day insulating the loft, and are very pleased with our progress. The majority of it is now done but the last few sheets will have to wait for a few days.

Why?

Because Jon is now injured again after he fell (and we still don't know how) off the ladder in the loft. Luckily it is nothing more than a nasty bruise and a sprained shoulder and, like a good trooper, he climbed straight back up the ladder to finish the job. Today he will be very sore and probably won't be able to use his arm again for a couple of days, but we do hope he will be able to play the piano for our friends Christmas Party on Sunday afternoon, otherwise the carols will be very dull.