I wrote all the following yesterday, but then for some reason this blogger thing wouldn't work on my home computer (which is still have fits and starts ... I can't bring myself to begin the horror of reinstalling everything) so I had to email it to myself at work and do it here.

So: on Saturday I decided to give myself a break from varnishing and went to the races. First I dropped a friend at the airport, then pootled over to the racecourse. I arrived way early for the first race but that gave me time to mooch around looking at everything, watch the bookies setting up, study the race card and stuff. It was a lovely sunny day, apart from a few clouds, yippee. Before the first race I went round to the paddock and checked out the horses, picked my likely one (Russian Dancer) but decided against putting on a bet.

A few flakes of snow fell.

Went back to the stand, where I met a couple of people I know. One I hadn't seen for ages, so we had a good natter. More snow fell. The horses came out for the first race and went round to the starting post (it was all jumps so there's no gate). By now the snow was so thick you could hardly make them out, and you couldn't see the far corner of the track at all.

They announced there'd be a delay to the start of the race while the track was inspected. The horses rode round in circles to keep warm. The rest of us stamped our feet and blew on our fingers. The snow was thick as a blizzard, and the wind was bitterly cold. Someone said the football had been cancelled in Aberdeen that afternoon because of snow. We were covered in it.

Finally they announced the first race would be delayed for 20 minutes and there'd be another track inspection. The horses came back past the stand. Everyone cheered and shouted for their horse to go faster. The snow stopped and blue sky appeared as the clouds moved south.

Bizarrely, part of the programme was a race by humans, with four preliminary heats. They decided to go ahead with that while we waited, so these poor devils had to get out of their tracksuits and sprint past in lycra. First prize was £1,000, so I guess that's an incentive.

Then they announced that the race meeting was being abandoned because there was too much snow on the track. Boooo!! We got a "race abandonment" ticket at the gate, which gives free entry to any other race meeting at the course. There's one on next Saturday, but I'm meeting another plane at 10 past 4, so that's no good. I see from the programme though that most of the rest of this year's race meetings are flat racing, which I prefer, so that's ok.

Unless the foot-and-mouth outbreak gets worse, in which case all racing could be cancelled -- the Newcastle meeting was cancelled on Saturday.

I drove home in brilliant sunshine -- it's odd when the sky's so clear to see cars and lawns covered in snow.

Yesterday I spent varnishing again -- first coat in the kitchen and diningroom. I was going to do the french doors as well, but discovered the boards used for the trim are warped and the silicone seal between doors and boards has come adrift. It'll all have to be replaced, sigh. The blokes are coming back on Wednesday anyway, to replace some latch things on some of the windows that aren't right, and the chap from the Windows Advisory firm is coming to inspect them on Wednesday morning.

Frances from next door came in to do a load of washing yesterday -- she's having her kitchen replaced after a fire, and though her water's back on, the washing machine hasn't been plumbed in. It's supposed to snow again, but hasn't so far.

This morning I woke up to find the back yard a winter wonderland!! Thick thick snow has been falling all day and it's still falling -- at after 8pm. My poor wee car was covered in it. The only downside is that it's not cold enough to keep the snow dry, so the footpaths are all swampy with cold slush. It looks gorgeous out the back though. Jess the cat-guest wanted out to inspect the birds but soon changed her mind. She's spent almost her entire visit so far asleep.

So I did the second coat of varnish this morning to finish what I did yesterday. Just the french doors to go now depending on what happens with the woodwork.