Getting Cozy

No sooner had we said goodbye to Eunice, and then Franklin comes to visit! This is our third storm in a week! Not as severe as Eunice, at least not in the south east, but we still have yellow warnings for wind (50-60mph wind inland), and this time we have lots of rain as well.

Thankfully this lovely electric throw arrived yesterday! I’ve been wanting one for ages and I wish I’d got it weeks ago. I’m sitting in my conservatory (no heat), listening to the wind and rain and feeling very warm and cozy indeed!

I don’t usually spell this word with a ‘z’ even though I’m American. With a few exceptions I’ve generally switched to British spellings. But the control for the blanket says ‘Get cozy’ so I’m complying with that (and the spelling)!

I watched the very last Olympic Cross-Country ski race this morning - the women’s 30k. They rescheduled the race, moving it up several hours because of the super-cold conditions, so I decided to watch it on catch-up instead of getting up before 3am this morning. I watched at the civilised time of 7am. It was a VERY exciting race, with an unexpected battle for the bronze medal. Do try and watch it if you can! (BBC iPlayer in the U.K., or Eurosport if you have it).

I was VERY happy to see US skier Jessie Diggins work hard to get the silver, especially when we we found out that she’d been battling food poisoning last night. She’s such a fighter! This was her second medal in this Olympics, and although she didn’t get a gold this time, she was the ONLY Cross-country skier amongst the women to get a medal in both a sprint and a distance race!

I was cozy under my blanket while I watched the Closing Ceremony this afternoon and was particularly happy to see the last men’s and women’s races have their medal ceremony as part of the Closing Ceremony. ESPECIALLY since CC skiing hardly got a mention in the U.K. coverage. Yesterday’s 50k men’s race was reduced to a 28.4k race at the very last minute because of the adverse weather conditions. This was an unpopular decision, especially for Team GB’s Andrew Musgrave, as he does well in the distance endurance race, and the 50k was his best chance for a medal at this Olympics. He was NOT happy!

Incidentally, this is probably the only time in history when the women’s distance race was longer than the men’s race. There’s something for your pub quiz!