Blimey Bjay, that's awful. Store manager & bank again repeatedly until someone owns up & sorts it out! Point out too the cost of sorting it out- all the calls/inconvenience etc. Bad at any time of year, but not now- lay it on really thick- pensioners etc etc.
Rain- is it really 12 months? Gosh, you & me both then. I'm terrified of slipping too. I know what you mean by 'dry frost'. You can then judge where to walk etc much easier. I've got some of those grippers- must try them out sometime. Probably around garden fiorst, knowing my clumsiness.
Have moved the seed & niger seed feeders around in an effort to foil the squirrels. Now have the spare seed feeder at the front of house- dont mind too much about any self-seeding there. I can just about see it from the kitchen window. It does show how much the front shrubs have thickened out since I last put a feeder out front. Hanging one now on the Ginko just isnt visible from inside. J.