Level 2 Chi Kung.

A couple of days ago, after the booked cleaner failed to show up or respond to text messages, I decided to try contacting the next person down on the short-list. She came today and was a revelation after glacier-girl. She is a smoker and has to nip out to her car for desperate fag breaks but is like a nicotine-fuelled whirlwind. It is unfortunate that she is a smoker as, in my experience, while she will no doubt smoke only outdoors or in her car when I am home, it is likely to be a different story when I’m not there. Nevertheless, I think I will give her a chance. With the help of the cleaner and a few hours of organising on my part, the children’s bedrooms are looking much more civilised.

Lovely Skype with Ann Eade in the evening.

Level 2 Chi Kung.

A quiet start to the new year, cosied up at home, doing not much of anything, other than making truffles and listening to radio 4’s superb 10 hour production of War and Peace.

Almost all the remaining Christmas cake now reborn as 5 (5!) batches of Christmas pudding truffles, some flavoured with cointreau, the rest with brandy. I have tucked half of them away in the freezer, as otherwise my true love is inclined to hoover them up at an alarming rate.