Never Had It So Good

It was pheasants after all running down the lane the other evening. We came across them when we drove home yesterday, a whole gaggle of them scuttling in front of the car, strutting around with their heads held high on slender necks at the bottom of the hill. They are so tall that I can see why they resembled miniature people in the gloaming. Mystery solved. The day had been wet and a bit dismal, but we soon warmed the kitchen up with the Rayburn, and when we walked after Hugo's supper he wore his red waterproof coat lined with sheepskin to keep him cosy in the damp air, a gift from the rescue kennels. It's quite smart, but perhaps a bit big. I'm going to buy him a tweed coat for the winter, lovat green like the suit my devilishly handsome doctor nearly always wears. "God, do you think he's attractive?" asked Penelope when somehow or other we got onto the subject of ailments. "He gives me the creeps!" Not only are she and Roger having the boy while I go back to work on Friday, but they are "borrowing" him on Saturday when their son Jolyon and his girlfriend come for the weekend. Apparently these young people are desperate to meet Hugo, having heard so much about him. Well, I've been wanting to buy some new shoes and some daffodil bulbs, so I'll take advantage of that.

I went into the sitting room to watch Cold Feet, and had to wrap my fleece around my legs to keep warm, stubbornly refusing to put on the heating or light the woodburner. I was only in there for an hour, not worth it. But when I reached my bedroom later the chill hit me. In a flash I'd unearthed a pair of cosy winter pyjamas for the first time this year - beautifully ironed from the last time I wore them in the spring! - and rescued the electric blanket from its drawer. Within seconds of getting into bed I was toasty and smiling. It was a far cry from when I lived in London in the early 70s and shared a freezing bedroom in a South Ken flat. My roommate and I would ring each other if we were going to be home late, with instructions to get each other's blankets switched on. It used to take hours for them to warm up, but oh the pleasure when you'd strip off in a blast of icy air from the ill-fitting window and slither between those hot sheets. Nowadays you can get an instant flash of warmth if you wake in the night feeling cool, but let's not forget how hard things once were. Delayed-action electric blankets - now that's proper cruel. If I ran the government I'd issue an electric blanket to every elderly person in the land. Instead of suffering from the cold in the daytime when they didn't dare put the heating on they could at least get into bed for a while and get warm in a trice. They cost nothing to run, and would save lives.

I must be feeling better. I walked the whole way round the big field twice today and didn't struggle. But I've still had three too-long sleeps, and my head remains a bit sore and woozy. On the mend anyway. Definitely on the mend.