Snow and Bread

While I was out early this morning, the falling snow was not conducive to filming. I have a rain coat for the camera, the best dressed camera in the village, the flakes were settling on the lens. So what film I did get was rather spoilt by smears. It is probably the only aspect of trying to film in the rain or snow that I have yet to find a good resolution for. But I am working on it. Myself, I have ensured that I am well wrapped up, and while I will not win any fashion awards, I keep myself reasonably warm and can endure several hours in sub zero temperatures. However, if I find that my feet or more importantly my hands start to get to cold I will then head for shelter or home. As I see no point in getting some great bit of film only to suffer from hypothermia.

While I was not especially cold this morning, as the falling snow was making filming near impossible, I decided to head home. On the way I met the woman whose dog I had found the other day. As she walked the dog, we chatted. She admitted that she had doubts about whether her partner (Boyfriend) was treating the dog properly. While I remained taciturn, it appeared that he had wanted something like Bull Terrier, but she had fallen for her dog that was a rescue dog. She had assumed that the dog was just frightened of all men, but the way she had been so responsive to me the other day had made her realise that her partner was not being as loving to the dog as she had expected.

They had only had the dog for a few weeks and every time he took the dog out it ran off from him. Also as he did not live with her full time, she also realised that the dog was happier when he was not around. The next bit I could see coming, as she asked for my advice. I told her that I could not advise her, and that she had to make the choices that were right for her.

Had it not been that I had already told her I was heading home, I would have made some excuse and gone a different way. As I am definitely not the best person to offer relationship advice, I am divorced, and that tells you all about my relationship skills. Then she changed the subject and started talking about her sister, apparently she had just met someone that she fancied. Now this is where my regular reader has jumped ahead and has made the connection before I did. Yes, her sister was the woman that asked me out.

It appears that when the flooding happened down at Blackhall Mill and I was on the supermarket run, my new date was on the bus too. What caught her notice was that I was making jokes that reassured people; apparently I referred to the bus as a ferry, and other silly things like that. But also that I helped people off with their shopping bags, even though I kept getting soaked, well I was wet already, and the sooner I got home the sooner I would get myself dry.

Well the upshot was that while she looked out for me in the local pubs, she could not find me there. This reinforced her sisters belief that I must be a good chap, as so many of the men around here seem to think that getting drunk is the only way to enjoy life. Oh she is going to be let down as I am as much of a dipsomaniac as the next man. It also amused me that her sister had been told that I was probably gay, to that she was saying at least she could go out with a bloke without getting jumped.

There are times when living in this village feels like I am in a surreal soap opera. Talking about living in the village, when I first moved here, I took measures to ensure that I had a well stocked larder. As with the reliance on public transport links, I was aware that bad weather in winter could mean that I may have to delay getting in essential supplies. Well today was such a day.

I had planned to do a supermarket run today, but as I stood at the bus stop a van from the bus company came and stopped. I was told that because of the heavy snow the busses were having difficulty and they (the Company) were allowing the drivers to use their good judgement and it looked like the busses were stopping running. As the supermarket bus was also late, I realised that I could be wasting my time.

So I trekked up the hill back home, not long after I got back in the snow started to get thicker. Anyway, I had most of what I needed in, but I had run out of bread. I have already said in other postings that locally the bread that’s in the local shops is not that good and is expensive. Well even this I was prepared for and I made some bread for myself.

If ever I was really stuck and I still had power, I could keep going for two or even three weeks. With no power I could still keep going for two or three days. While it was unexpected, I quite enjoyed making the bread. I was not sure if putting the dough near the boiler was going to be enough to prove the dough but it appeared to work.

Well I just hope that it is not to long before the busses are running again as I need to get more flour if I am to do that again.