First frost, 2018

What does this tell you: first frost 2007, first frost 2011 were both a whole month earlier, on 16 October. Last night the temperature fell to -3C. Monday's installation of the alarm system in Jakubowizna was not completed on account of a poor mobile phone signal, so Pan Darek had to pop over again with an external antenna to finish the job. And I was told that the sofa bed (scratched to pieces by cats) has been refurbished and can be delivered to the działka. So a change of plan was required for today, and a lovely morning it was too.

Cloudless sky all day long, temperatures shooting up to +5C by the afternoon.

A long walk was Most certainly in order... down past Chynów station towards Krężel... Another photo in the style of Eric Ravilious...

By half past three the sun was low in the sky and its was quickly getting cooler - though not back down to zero this time. Overnight temperatures will not dip deeply into negative territory.

Out of the woods and into the open, the sun touching the horizon.

Earlier I took some snaps of the track modernisation work around Chynów - here's that ST43 diesel loco used to haul wagons carrying new rails. Built in Romania by Electroputere, these engines are nicknamed 'Rumun' by Polish train spotters. PKP ordered 422 of them (from 1965 to 1978).

Below: a rake of empty rail-carrying wagons south of Chynów station. The new rails can be seen between the existing tracks of the 'down' line, currently in use in both directions.

In theory, you can get to Jakubowizna by bus, but the bus stop (no timetable displayed) does not look encouraging. Incidentally, how can you spray a stencil so that the first few letters come out black and the last few yellow? Neat effect, probably accidental, product of sloppy work, but still...

Finally, my recovered sofa bed, recovered in both meanings of the word. Scratched to pieces by the cats, the old upholstery was so badly wrecked that it looked fit for the skip. However, the folding mechanism is still first rate, so following the precepts of the Buyerachy of Needs, rather than buy a new piece of furniture, I had this one reupholstered. The work, by Werson of Nowa Iwiczna, was stunningly brilliant - better than I imagined. Werson has also made furniture for the president's palace and restores upholstery in classic cars. I highly recommend.

This time three years ago:
Cameron, Paris, ISIS, PiS and Brexit

This time five years ago:

Work restarts on Jeziorki Ponds redevelopment

This time six years ago:
Foggy days and Warsaw's airports

This time eight years ago:
Local elections - the lure of ultra-localism