I'm sitting here in the warm house with my cat curled up on my lap, purring loudly. It has been snowing solidly all day today and most things here in the city seem to have come to a halt. We are just not geared up for bad weather here in the city. I've been off work for two days now because of the snow - so there are benefits! The autumn term was very long and I was poorly all through the Christmas holiday and then found that this half term was very pressured. So as I was given these two days as a gift, I've ignored most of those jobs which are waiting for me and had a rest. I feel better for it but rather guilty at the same time. I'm really grateful that I had the option to have a rest. Had we already moved somewhere and had animals to look after, then I would have had to work regardless with no choice in the matter.

We are supposed to be going away tomorrow for a few days but I don't somehow think we will be going. I've heard reports of deep snow in areas which we should be travelling through. So we'll wait for a day and look at the weather again.

The hens are really unsure about the snow. They won't walk through it even to reach their water at the other end of their run. I moved the can to the end of the run where they were all huddled and they were so thirsty. They are laying well, though. We had 11 eggs from the 12 of them yesterday - an alltime record. And 9 today. We had eggs for dinner tonight. Now that is a surprise, isn't it!