18 February

We had planned a day trip to France on Tuesday, and were up early (if not bright) to be greeted by steady rain, and a forecast of fog and snow in northern France. Since the ticket was very cheap, we decided to forfeit it. I’m at last coughing a bit less (following a heavy and tenacious cold), but my energy levels are still on the low side. Consequently, the decision to cancel was not a difficult one. We’ve stocked up the cellar from Sainsbury’s instead.

Fine bright day yesterday – what a welcome change! It was warm enough in the afternoon to sit in the conservatory without heating. The vernal symbolism of getting a load of washing out on the line to dry compensates a little for the drudgery involved. We took a couple of pot-boiler canvases along to the framer, and enjoyed a nice country drive in the process. One of Miss’s pieces – a nice little water colour – was there in the workshop ready for collection, so I’ll be able to suck up at today’s class! The pictures are another view of the Château de Durfort and the Col du Rousset piece I mentioned the other day. I’ve taken the framer’s advice and varnished them both (and very nearly died a death when I saw the effect on the first one. Fortunately it dried transparent…). This time, I noted the reference numbers of the two frame mouldings to which I seem to gravitate these days, so we won’t have to spend ages poring through the catalogue in future.

We have decided to take Mr Brown’s shilling and get a new central heating boiler. For those not acquainted with the scrappage concept, the government is offering a small subsidy to people who replace inefficient old boilers with more modern ones. As ours clearly went in when the house was built, we reckon the time’s about right. So our boiler fettler came round yesterday to measure up, and we’ll get a quote from him shortly. More muck and expense, but that’s what home ownership is about, I suppose. Meanwhile, we have persuaded the old freezer and fridge into the bigger of the garages, and will probably power up the former today at some point. The cookery books used to gather dust on top of the old fridge, but as the new one stands seven feet tall, that’s no longer an option! We’ve recycled a shelf that used to be in the guest room (only with the brackets fitted squarely and symmetrically this time), so the books are now close at hand when one’s sitting at the kitchen table. And talking of recycling, we’ve been freecycling again. When making room in the garage for the fridge, we found a couple of unopened boxes of the horrible tiles that a previous administration laid, after a fashion, on the kitchen floor. They are now outside the front door awaiting collection by a lady who took four old feather pillows off our hands a while back. We have shipped out a cheap, rickety desk chair, a chest of drawers and a sideboard by the same route in the past month or so, and are thus reducing the clutter without augmenting the landfill or burning our own diesel in the process.

The song thrush is serenading us each morning, and a chaffinch is starting to yell his repetitive little song. We hear woodpeckers drumming away in the trees, and I’ve heard the green woodpecker’s call a few times. The blackbirds and robins are very busy, as are tits of various stripes. Yet to see a nuthatch this year, though, and the dunnocks aren’t yet much in evidence. Neither, fortunately, is the heron, possibly dissuaded by the fruit netting on the pond.