Seven assorted penguins

Today I made the seven penguins for my Christmas cake and I have to say that it was very hard work. One of my Home Economics colleagues very kindly demonstrated to me how to make one, and in his expert hands the task seemed deceptively easy. Not so when I came to try it. The black icing was very difficult to manipulate and it kept making dirty marks on the white icing even though I tried to be careful. The beaks and feet were really footery. However I did end up with my seven penguins completed. They all look slightly different in size, shape and expression so I have pragmatically decided that this is a good thing! They are called Susan penguin, James penguin, Jamie penguin, Ally penguin, Davie penguin, Grandma penguin and Cat penguin. Cat, Ally's girlfriend, qualifies for the cake because she is lovely and has put up with Ally for two years now! Jack cat will also feature on the cake but in cat form rather than penguin form. It's not as complicated as it sounds!
In other news, our new boiler went out today because a pipe froze in the garage. The house was freezing when we came home and James was furious - he had told the installers that he didn't like the way the pipes were set up but they had dismissed his concerns and now he has been proved right. James managed to fix it by pouring boiling water over the pipe but he shouldn't have had to do that with a brand new boiler system after only a couple of weeks. The most comical aspect was when Jack came through and climbed up on the radiator for a heat after eating his dinner (James refers to this as "cooking his chunks"!) He made his way up as usual via the couch but when he put his front paws on the radiator and found it to be stone cold he did a double take and retreated disapprovingly! Also worrying, especially since he is in the middle of his exams, Ally is not at all well, with flu like symptoms. He went to the doctor today and it looks like he's going to have to miss tomorrow's exam. He is understandably very upset about this but as I pointed out to him, unfortunately these things happen and he can arrange to sit his exam at a future date.