1. I really, really like Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. To the extent that I’m not at all sure about a film version.

2. It’s been raining here. A lot. The windows we spent weeks stripping and repairing are getting covered in condensation pretty much all day, every day, and we’re wondering if the glass isn’t sealed well enough. We’re also wondering what the buggery to do about it if the quantity of water has nothing to do with sealing, and is instead caused by the fact that it’s single-glazing glass, and it’s really, really thin, because that’s what Listed Buildings insisted on, regardless of the fact that this may well lead to the destruction of the original frames.

3. Quercus is bashing on with the kitchen – the sink is in place, even if not finally, and we are getting the carcasses in place. Suddenly there is an impression of what the space will be, when it’s all done, and it’s a good feeling.

4. I have been meaning to take pictures of the house from various angles, to share the gorgeous all-singing-all-dancing lime rendering we’ve done over this summer, but see point 2 re rain, the persistent presence thereof.

5. Ginger cordial with hot water and honey is the world’s best sore throat treatment. I have now got a prescription of amoxycillin to go at, but am debating whether or not to take it; rampant sore throat and hacking cough aside, I think I’ll shake off the horribleness of not being well in the next day or two, and I do loathe antibiotics.

6. I’m really bored with being ill now. It doesn’t take long for the novelty of sitting in bed at odd times of day to wear off, does it? Not well enough to want to DO anything, but not ill enough to escape finger-gnawing cabin fever.

7. The tiny daughter and I did a pumpkin together on Saturday afternoon. It went pretty well – she only attempted to eat the flesh once, and we managed to roast the seeds to great effect. Less successful was the  cooking of the pumpkin itself – combined with ginger and cinnamon, the overall effect was still pretty grim. Hey ho – perhaps pumpkins and I are destined to enjoy a relationship based on two things: candles and compost heaps.

8. Is it too predictable to say that I’m quite enjoying Eastwick, a television series based on John Updike’s book The Witches of Eastwick, but that I find the casting of that chap who will always be Benton Fraser as Darryl van Horne a little distracting?

9. I think I’ve lost my knitting mojo, temporarily; I want – in theory – to start knitting the tiny daughter the cardigan I’ve probably mentioned here already, but I just can’t seem to pull my finger out. Instead, I cast on procrastinatory bits and bobs – another hat, for example – but none of these bits and bobs is actually on The List Of Things Which I Am Going To Knit, a list which exists purely to stop me starting things and then realising I’m wasting time, or that they mean the outlay of money, when other projects could be knitting for (what feels like) free (because it’s ages since I shelled out for the materials involved, and thus… yes, I’m revealing way too much about the inner nuttiness of my financial reasonings here, aren’t I? Let’s draw a veil over this bit, and move on…).

10. Do you ever just find that, despite a genuine preference for wholefoods and home-cooked food and general smug lentil-knitting-type living, you just wish you lived next door to a really good pizza takeaway?