The Coventry Beer Festival started last night but we didn't go until the saturday afternoon session. We were a bit disappointed to find that some of the beers had sold out already, such as the elderflower beer, which we would have been interested in trying.

The range of beers was impressive, especially when we realised that we hadn't seem many of them before. A lot of previous beer festivals have had a lot of beers in common but this year the selection of new beers was impressive.

There was also a good selection of ciders and perries and also fruit wines. We finished off with a glass of the sloe wine and the rosehip wine.

I drove down Charter Avenue today, between the A45 and Cannon Park. The last time I drove along it the road surface was pretty bad, with quite a lot of potholes. Today the potholes had spread along most of the road. The freezing weather earlier in the month seems to have taken its toll on the road surface. A lot of roads have suffered but this one seems worse than most.

It started snowing yesterday and by the time we left work there about an inch or so had fallen. The main roads on the way home weren't too bad but our road was very slippery. We live on the side of a hill so I had to drive up very carefully. Even so, I could feel the car wanting to slide sideways.

The road was no better this morning. All the pavements were very icy. I walked into town to take some photos of the city centre in the snow.

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There were a lot of Chinese Lanterns released over Coventry to celebrate the new year. The photo here shows one flying near the full moon.

We were on our way Up North to visit visit family when we needed to nip into Boots to buy a few things. We stopped at Central 6 and struggled to find a parking space. I was lucky enough to find a space at the far end of the car park.

I noticed a huge queue of people on the pavement outside one of the shops. When I got closer it turned out to be people waiting to be allowed into Next. There were bouncers on the door only letting people in when somebody left. I found it rather pathetic that people were so desperate for a 'bargain'. We went to the shops because we needed to buy something, rather than because we felt the need to satisfy some shopaholic craving.

1. At last, over a month after it was delivered, it was time for our recycling bin to be emptied. We filled it a couple of weeks ago and we've got enough new recycling to fill it all over again.

2. There had been a heavy frost overnight. It took a while to defrost the car this morning.

3. On my way to the office this morning, I overheard some women talking. I missed the start of the conversation but I think they were talking about the cold weather. I heard one of them say "But it's not even December yet!".

4. I had lots of spare unripe tomatoes in the fridge so I decided to make some Green Tomato Chutney. I followed one of Keith Floyd's recipes from the BBC website. Chutneys are supposed to improve after a few weeks so I won't sample it yet and give it a chance to mature.

I probably can't blame Friday the 13th but tonights drive home was probably the slowest ever. There had been a crash which closed the M6, causing most of the traffic to divert along local roads. Roads which were normally free-flowing were backed up for miles. It took us a couple of hours to drive the 5 miles home.

Our blue-lidded recycling bin has finally been delivered, although the first collection isn't until the start of December. It will make recycling so much easier. We will be able to dump paper, card, tins, glass and plastic bottles in it. This will be so much easier than having to put everything in the car and drive to a recycling point somewhere.

Here are some photos I took when I attended the 1 day Nature Photography course at the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust at Brandon Marsh. The day was aimed at complete beginners but there were people there with a variety of experience levels.

We were given various themes to photograph, starting with Colour, then Patterns & Texture, and finally Mood & Atmosphere. Later, we had to choose our own theme and put together a series of photos illustrating it.

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Today is proving to be a numerically challenged day. The Daily Mail has problems with years and now this:

There are speed cameras along the A46 in the roadworks near the junction with the M40. The speed limit has been lowered to 40mph and signs light up to warn speeding motorists of the new limit. I was driving at 38mph, according to the speedometer in the car. This didn't stop the sign from flashing at me telling me to slow to 40mph.

Walking home from the City Centre tonight, we saw some bright orange lights hanging almost motionless in the sky. At first they seemed to be two points of light. As we got closer and got a better view, it became clear that they were chinese lanterns. It was difficult to get a sense of scale but they seemed quite large - possibly several feet across.

I wish the Council would hurry up and delivers our recycling bin soon. We have seen the new blue lidded bins being delivered to other parts of the city but they haven't been delivered to our neighbourhood yet. The bins are able to take almost anything: plastic bottles, paper, card, glass and cans. We already recycle these but at the moment it means we have to take everything to various places. Supermarkets let us recycle paper and glass. Plastic is readily recycled just over the border in Warwickshire. It will be so much easier when we can do all that from our doorstep.

We will probably be among the last people to receive the new bins because our area is traditionally poor at recycling. Very few people put the paper recycling boxes out. The %$*@s who stole ours stopped us from doing that. If everyone had the new bins then it would make it easier for them to recycle.

Areas like ours should have been the first to receive the bins - it might encourage people to recycle. So Coventry City Council, please hurry up and deliver our bin. We have 3 bags of plastic and cans, 1 box of paper and 1 box of glass all ready to be recycled.

The restaurant opened in the city centre a few weeks ago but we didn't get around to going until today. The '2 eat for the price of one' offer had ended but it only costs £6.50 to eat at lunchtime which is still good value.

The food is billed as 'pan asian' and it is fairly varied. In addition to the expected (sesame toast, crispy seaweed, various curries) there was also something called 'mongolian lamb'. This appeared to chunks of tender slow-cooked lamb in a sauce which resembled hoisin.

The dessert section featured assorted 'mousse with leaves', such as a lime mousse with cream, a blackberry and a sprig of parsley. This reminded me of the jam tart with parsley I had at Wing Wah. I would have taken a photo of it but there were various signs up in the restaurant insisting that cameras were banned. This seems to be a strange move - if you are on a night out with friends, it is fairly common to take a couple of photos. People might not be happy if they are told they can't take photos.

The food was good and varied. The prices are good. The 'no photography' rule seems a bit strange.

We watched the Godiva Parade as it passed the Council House in the City Centre.

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The annual Godiva Festival started tonight. We spent most of the evening watching the comedy acts but we caught some of Go West on the main stage. As we were leaving we heard them perform their 2 big hits: We Close our Eyes and King of Wishful Thinking.