New Year at Buittle

Well, spent the whole of Thursday at work worrying about the weather and periodically checking the forecast. Not at all encouraged by the fact that every forecast ended with the words 'and Dumfries and Galloway is locked in ice!'. However, by the end of work I thought, 'Sod it!', and set off anyway. I went across the M8 since it was snowing pretty heavily at this point and I have to assume that the road signs above the motorway were telling us about the heavy fog since all I could see was the glow through THE HEAVY FOG!!!!.
I remember thinking the moon looked particularly pretty on my way across but was wondering why it was green for about half an hour before it clicked that I have a tinted windscreen...
Anyhow, got through to D&G and, despite all the dire warnings about frost and ice, it was the clearest part of the journey (which was fortunate, given the somewhat steep, sloping corner on the way down to the tower).

Had a really fantastic weekend, just getting to see folks and drink wine and sit in front of a fire. (However, my small appetiser things making skills could probably use some improvement. Apparently I am unable to place cream cheese on a biscuit. Still, no-one died. Must also remember that my wearing heels means I have to duck going through the undercroft door!

Set off back on Sunday (having defrosted Roger and convinced him that yes, he did want to start!) Nearly didn't make it up the hill, (had a little slide backwards that caused me to stall him and, for a minute or two, I thought that might be me!) but, we rallied and made it up. Journey was fine until I reached the M74 where I ran into freezing fog. Stopped off at Abington Services to consider my options (and dig someone out of their parking space. Everybody should carry a shovel and sacking in this weather even if does make people think you're hiding bodies!) decided that I was happier on a familiar road and took the Biggar Road home. Bit snowy but not too bad and everybody was travelling at a sensible speed with sensible braking distances for once. Some truly impressive icicles on the eaves in some of the villages and some absolutely gorgeous snowy scenery.

Having got back to Edinburgh and found the burrow a little chilly, I decided to head the cinema to see Avatar. Got my times a little wrong and ended up seeing Sherlock Holmes again. I think a combination of tiredness and cheerfulness managed to shut down my Homes mania because I actually enjoyed it this time. I still think Irene Adler is horrendously annoying but Downey Jr's Holmes is growing on me and I still think that it contains one of the best portrayals of Watson I've seen in a long time. At this rate, by the time the sequel comes out, I'll actually be looking forward to it!

Meant to continue spring cleaning the Burrow on Monday, but that didn't happen. Stayed in my nest and watched the second part of Doctor Who instead. Not terribly impressed on the whole (although Bernard Cribbens was excellent and I would have loved it if he could have been a proper companion for a while and I adored the cactus aliens. They were just great. Also Timothy Dalton managed to make the most of the little he was given). The whole 'Doctor visiting all the people he's ever met and staring solemnly at them for no apparent reason' thing was mawkish and overlong. However, looking forward to the new Doctor (think Matt Smith is a very good actor in the other stuff I've seen him in) and Steven Moffatt at the helm.
Also managed to see 'The Water of Mars' which I missed due to Virgin Media having one of it's fits. Now this was more like it, claustrophobic, haunting and the Doctor is seen to be a dnagerous alien and doesn't win.