Not sure if all is still well today!

The only thing actually wrong is that my car needs a new alternator. Not being mechanically-minded, I am not sure exactly what one of those looks like, or even does, but I do realise that it is fairly essential to have one in working order and that it is something to do with the battery. Now my car is pretty ancient, and I have had it for ten years - and it was second-hand when we got it! It has served us fantastically well and I would be very sorry to see it put to rest, and so if it needs a new alternator, it shall have one. I would like to keep it going for another year or so at least as it is so useful for hauling chicken feed, shopping, books, straw bales, etc. I don't want to add more metal to the scrapheap either, and I certainly don't "need" a new car for cosmetic reasons. If you know me, you will know that I don't "go a bundle" on what things look like, and as long as they are functional and do the job, I am usually happy. I do need a reliable car, as travelling from here to the nearest towns is 8 miles in either direction, and I dread breaking down on lonely roads. Enough said, or I will talk it into collapsing! It will be fine later in the week.

On another, more cheery note, I have received two more birthday gifts today - one from a friend through the post - a lovely Mulberry scented candle, and a plant from a friend at gym. He gave me one last year, and it is still alive, so I am hoping to keep this one alive too - the FH jokes that my plants have to be drought-resistant to live long here.

The FH and I have been practising our instruments today - he with more success than I but I will persevere. I keep collapsing in fits of giggles at the strange shapes I am supposed to be making with my mouth, but I will get used to it soon and then it won't seem so strange!

I have also been looking for some fleece material to make some more throws for the sofas and beds for the winter. The cheapest I have found it on the internet is £4.25 a metre, so I will keep looking for a day or two, but that isn't a bad price. I'd probably have to look at buying about 10m, so I really want to find a good price, and there is only one shop around here that sells fabric. To be fair, I haven't checked their price, but I doubt it will be as cheap as that, as they are a shop with overheads to cover, but the side of me which wants to support local shops is telling me that I should at least go in there and check out what they have. So that will be a job for Saturday afternoon.

I have sourced some much cheaper chicken feed from Bearts of Stowbridge, near Downham Market, and they are so much cheaper than what I have been paying that I am kicking myself that I didn't check wholesale delivered prices before. Sure, I have to buy 25 bags, but with the laying hens, the grower flock, the little chicks and the quail, we have a lot to feed! I have to order by Friday and they will deliver early the next week, which sounds great to me.