Last night's rain has washed away all the snow and not surprisingly it is so much warmer. Linas and I escaped to town, a relief to drive along ice-free roads, to do some shopping. The River Taw looked very dirty with all the ice , mud and branches being swept downstream as the thaw continues. Town was heaving with eager shoppers but despite all the publicity about the bargains I only bought a diary (to record each day's photographs as I down (up?)load them onto my pc. and a pretty child's necklace and bracelet half-price at Monsoon. I intend to re-make the bracelet into some long dangly earrings and the necklace will be fun for school.
Back home via the Co-op, lots of bargains, and the carpet warehouse to pick up some off-cuts to replace our downstairs hall carpet. It was quite old when we moved in 17 years ago and has become totally threadbare (and had a few cat mis-haps). To get a single piece to fit the L-shaped space would have cost £70-£150 even at remnant prices so instead I bought 2 pieces of the same carpet, one to cover the main section and another piece to fit the bit that goes under the stairs. The price of those 2 pieces was £23 and with a bit of sweet-talking I bargained them down to £20 for cash. Much more reasonable.
Once home it was a bit of a rush to swap bedrooms over (with a really bad headache) and do a quick tidy up before our friends arrived to spend a few days in sunny Devon. Luckily Peter has taken charge of cooking tonight's supper- roast pork, mm.