Such a cold morning. I rush into the kitchen, the only part of the house with any warmth as mother stokes up the fire and then pours out my breakfast oats. I eat hungrily, trying to warm my bones with food as there is little chance of getting heat through any other way. My mother brings over a jug with some ale in it and pours a little out for me. It is a very small amount at the bottom of my goblet but when I look up expectantly she tells me it is all gone now and I am very lucky that she kept this drop back for me; she has been saving it for several days. She asks what time I am going out.
"As soon as I"ve eaten" I reply, mouth full and gulping it down somewhat in my haste.
"Well do wrap up well, the weather is bitter out there," she says, looking at me with a big frown on her face.
"
