Thermometers could not even record record the minus 86°F cold weather emergency in Alaska today
Thermometers could not even record record the minus 86°F cold weather emergency in Alaska today

A slow start on a cold and frosty morning, which compared with the record minus 86°F cold weather emergency in Alaska. I was attending the fish and pond again before taking the family for a lovely St James’s church service with the choir in their new ropes and sun shining through the south windows. I then delivered leaflets to Southoe and outlying houses, liaising with constituents, after taking Debbie to Offord where she had a leg bitten by Sundance! An evening of paperwork and press cuttings as I heard about Britain halving the number of soldiers based at the Gibraltar garrison

After our late night that followed the SLD gathering, we slept in and it was after 9am that I had finished my fried breakfast. I showered and dressed etc. and then fed the doves and ducks on a cold and frosty morning. There is a cold-weather emergency in Alaska where temperatures are as low as -86°F have been recorded to make it the toughest winter on record. I then turned to my fish and painted the Ohgon’s wound again and did a water change and another application of Steryzine to the pond as the gill flukes still seem to be present. The small Koi in the isolation tank still seems to be the same and the antibiotic is not yet doing anything about their swollen eyes. I refilled the pond with fresh water and, unfortunately, left the tap running and the conservatory was nearly flooded by the time we realised! We all went as a family to the St James’s Church service this morning and the church was full to overflowing again which was good to see.

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The choir sang very well in their new robes and the church was very nice with the sun streaming in through the south windows. Di persuaded us to go to the Little Chef for lunch as she wanted to get on afterwards and finish painting the wall in the playroom. I took Debbie off to the riding establishment and let her ride around the school and do some exercises until Lisa Drake came. I then left them to it and spent a couple of hours delivering all our January Focus leaflets to the outgoing houses in my ward – whilst my Range Rover was still dirty and covered in mud. I stopped and chatted with a couple of households in Lees Lane, Southoe, over a re-occurrence of their drainage problems. I collected the girls from riding and brought them home at dusk after they had a good time; even if Debbie did get bitten on her leg by Sundance! This evening, I only did the most important paperwork and then went through 3/4 weeks’ back copies of the local newspapers, extracting the Little Paxton cuttings. There is news today of Britain planning troop reductions from the Gibraltar garrison by removing a battalion and halving the 1,700 soldiers base there.