Crimbo

We are having a lovely Christmas Day, just the two of us plus dog Bess and cat Purrcy - plus a cock pheasant at the bird table.   Very, very restful and Christmassy.

Father Christmas has difficulty here, with no real chimney, so he uses the lift shaft, resourceful chap:

His bounty knew no bounds this year and included an iPhone 6S and an Alexa plus lots of super railway books of the dip-into sort.   Just the thing for the middle of the night when I am reading myself back to sleep.   When I have cleared lots of hurdles my Apple Mac computer, the iPhone and the Alexa will all connect seamlessly but I shall have to get used to 'apps' before then.

You may be wondering about the big parcel propped against the lift's control panel.   You need to hark back a week or two when I Blogged about an amazing painting that was for sale in Settle - a Settle-scape which featured both the Folly and the Water Tower.   Well I was able to buy it and here it is:

click to enlarge

There's the water tower now a Settle icon!   It was painted by local artist Georgia Winder and we shall cherish it.   It is 4 feet long by 2 feet tall.

  Buildings depicted include

Top row - the Water Tower, The Shambles, The Folly, The Signal Box

Middle row - The Naked Man Cafe, The Social Club

Bottom row - The Royal Oak, Poppies Tea Room, Nelson's Shoe Shop, the Bike Shop and Lamberts Newsagents.

To complete the festive scene here is our main room, gently dressed up for Christmas

It seems almost no time since this cosy room was a derelict and forbidding space.

The recent very cold weather prompted us to review our heating arrangements as the temperature in our 'cosy' room fell to 15 degrees C.   Did we need a more powerful boiler perhaps?

Local electrical & heating magnate Jonathan Mousey responded to our plea for heating help.   We did not need a new boiler but we did need to make better use of the existing one (he could have sold us a new boiler but didn't, bless him).   Among his recommendations was to double the number of heat propelled fans above the gas stove in the main room.   This we have done and what a difference it has made:

Not only are these things visual fun, they blast hot air to where it is needed.

Another device I am adopting is to fit concealed hinge-side door closers on all the internal doors.   They are fire doors after all so should remain closed on that account alone.   Just two doors have so far been fitted but boy, what a difference it makes.