We’ve just got in from a walk up Blackford Hill. Saw what I thought was a fox sitting in a garden… and fluttered about trying to snap it with my phone, and was mortified to find it was a mere statue…(Didn’t notice the badger and pixie next to it.) Hope no one witnessed my attempts as a wild life photographer. We did manage to stay upright on the icy slopes, but it was a challenge….even in spite of the sturdy boots.

Snow has gone…but we are left with slushy, icy pavements that are a nightmare to traverse. I sometimes feel like Ralf Fiennes lugging my own weight in cans and groceries across the frozen waste grounds. Because of this I have taken to making soups galore…this week we had corn chowder, French onion, good old fashioned broth…and that’s just lunch. John is getting fed up with all this winter ‘good-for-you’ stuff…so today we reverted back to stilton and cheddar washed down with a couple of glasses of Port!

Local shops have been how I imagine it was ‘during the war’…the shelves empty, no bread, fruit or vedg and the cans reduced to just a few. Thank goodness, all is back to normal, and hopefully will stay that way till after the New Year.

Nick and I went to see ‘The Illusionist’ on Wednesday…it’s an animated film, set in Edinburgh. Very clever, funny and beautiful.

John has been painting and has worked wonders in the back bedroom, and I have been writing and living in my own made up world. My lunch date and coffee date both cancelled so I had no excuse…I wrote 6,000 words instead. I have ‘drowned’ Neal, and now have to sort out the consequences! That will be next week! Should Caroline continue her affair with Donnie, now that she has found out her husband is dead???!!!!

Hmmmm Will have to give it some thought.