I’ve been out in the cold most of the day, constructing a couple more wood stores out of old pallets. It’s slow work because each step presents new challenges, based on the available materials. Some of the pallet planks still need parts of nails removed and I’m also trying to reuse some of the fixings, so I’m digging through a pile that I’ve accumulated over the past couple of months, pulling out ones that are serviceable and discarding those that clearly aren’t.

Slow work and a bitterly cold day. By the time I finished tidying up and came in just after 5pm, I felt in need of a hot drink to revitalise me and ‘hot buttered rum’ was a phrase that sprang to mind. Strange that, because it’s not something that I’m very familiar with (had I ever had it before?) but a quick search confirmed that it is, indeed, a thing.

The recipe linked to there is not overly prescriptive so I treated it loosely. Some butter, a bit of brown sugar, a pinch of salt and a dash of mixed spice, all creamed together in a mug. I melted that with boiling water and added a generous dash of rum. The result hits the spot – physically hot, spice-hot and booze-hot. I still don’t know why it popped into my head but this is definitely a winter warmer.