If the Mrs and kids had their way the Christmas tree would go up sometime in September. Having explained that a live tree should only be inside for a short as possible period to give it any chance of survival I relented and yesterday it came in. We have a carol singing party here at the weekend so I could not hold on much longer. At the top is an angel made by daughter Olaf 19 years ago when she was just four. It has survived.

I had thought that we had escaped unscathed but daybreak revealed otherwise. The old and very large pear tree at the centre of my vegetable garden had toppled.

The wood burning stove is eating through my log pile at a fair old rate. But, as you will see shortly, God has come to the rescue and I can now survive even the longest of winters. Such matters do not worry fat cat Quincey and his smaller sister Sian, asleep on my Christmas jumper. When these two were rescued from the cat rescue in Birkenhead they did not know how lucky they were.

Storm Darragh has been thundering through North Wales for almost 24 hours. The winds howl down the lane to the Welsh Hovel, the trees bend and indeed one is already down. You can hear the wind screaming at you and the rain is non stop. The river is now covering my orchard and over in England the fields are flooded.

The paper that told us about the Ghost of Kyiv, the defenders of Snake island, the Auschwitz style gold teeth and the Russian soldiers given Viagra tablets for industrial rape has fallen for yet another Ukrainian hoax. It brings you pictures of North Korean soldiers sent to die for Russia and they are birds!. Except…

On a day when Jaya joins me on the school run, after picking Joshua up from Kings we stop off at a BP/Asda service station. I get a black coffee and the kids share a sandwich and chocolate bar in a £3.75 meal deal. It is now a ritual. Today as I waited for my coffee to pour another Kings boy came up to Joshua and started talking.

This is Quincey and a photo for cat lovers everywhere.