Surprises

By chance, by just the unlikeliest of lucky strokes, I went on the Celtic website to look at replacing my ruined sheepskin boots when I spotted a heading I nearly missed and had never noticed before: Repairs and Resoles. With my jaw on my chest I watched a video of old soles being ripped off ageing boots to be replaced by new ones, all for a mere 25% of the cost of new ones. The bin men come today! The boots were in the bin! The men were late! I retrieved the boots!! Now that feels like a good outcome to yesterday's foolish fiasco. I get to keep my favourite boots and they will be like new. That's happiness. Simples.

It wasn't my only triumph: I collected a load more firewood from Len's yard and trundled it down to the woodshed. It's looking seriously busy down there now in a good way, though I'm not entirely happy about the load of wood I got from Framlingham College. It's a bit too lightweight, and you need something more solid like oak or ash to keep the woodburner going all evening. I'm probably burning more than I'm used to, but I can always get more. If there's one thing in ready supply in Suffolk it's people selling firewood.

Neil came by yesterday evening to do the last minute measuring for the new kitchen worktops and sink. He's such a nice man, and he exudes competence which is a very attractive quality in a tradesman. He told me I should put my two Villeroy & Boch sinks on e.bay and make some money - apparently they retail at around £250 each, ridiculous. What's wrong with B&Q? We compared notes on our magnetic bracelets, and both reported a marked improvement though I haven't done any gardening for over a week so the weekend should be telling on my thumb joints. These past few days have been mostly lovely, the sun bringing out the auburns and golds and oranges of the leaves both fallen and still attached to the trees and hedges. It's a real pleasure to step out on our walks, and hard to imagine that in a few weeks the landscape will be bare, pared back and colourless. Carpe diam, that's all you can do. Make the most of what's there, and trust that it will be replaced by something beautiful, in some way or other.