pumpkinstrokemarrow

One of this morning's preparations was a Christmas present for the house. Waking up, I was told that temperatures are going to drop to something improbable tonight and my thoughts turned to the little house at the side of the house which houses our mains water input. The house itself was built to a generally good standard in the 1930's but for some reason it was thought proper - or perhaps it was just easier, given the height of the floor above the drive - to have an external mains water input. It runs in under the front lawn and drive - not terribly deep - not down to current EC regulations - and then pops up beside the house prior to entry about 9 inches above ground level. Leaving a length of exposed pipe.

For many years this length of pipe has been housed in a very little house, nicely made with a felt roof. It has done well and the mains input pipe has never frozen or burst - at least not to our knowledge - although the base of the very little house is now showing signs of rot. However, with the news that we may now be in for some colder nights than there have ever been in the recent past, a rather bigger little house is clearly indicated. So I have spent most of the morning making a rather bigger little house to fit around and over the very little house. Temporarily fixed to the wall and filled with two condemned bedspreads. Proper fixings: two 5/16ths holes in the wall plugged with pine plugs into 3/16ths holes in which the fixings screws are screwed. Hopefully that will do the trick. Temporary both on account of its size and the rather low grade construction. Elderly hardboard facings which are a bit flaky - although interior gloss painted on the outside - and more substantial deal plank sides salvaged from north London. Or maybe not both deal: they are both some sort of not-red pine but one must weight twice what the other weighs. Despite their being approximately the same colour. Roof decorated with seasonal if unberried holly from our own garden.

In sum, my considerable youthful investment in carpentry tools and training has meant that I can knock out a bit of what my father would have called shut-knife work without much sweat. One of my two fancy (if obsolete) veneer cramps has had one of its very rare outings. But good to have the right tools for the job, even if the return on investment not too hot: they make the thing a pleasure rather than a penance.

PS: as a true believer in the matter of global warming, was reassured by the Guardian explaining the other day that the very cold spell we are having is indeed a product of global warming. The warming has disturbed the air flow over the north Atlantic with the result that a tongue of very cold air has swept down over England, pushing very hot air over places which should be cold. Instead we are. The average temperature this year remains high, the cold in Epsom notwithstanding.