Spent the afternoon snoozing on the couch, much to my embarrassment Should be writing that job application. Must get onto it. It was supposed to be 20 degrees, but I gave up waiting for that by 11:30 and lit the fire. Surprise surprise, it warmed up after that, but not enough to make the fire redundant, so all was not lost. Remade the bed with flannellette sheets - a decision I will doubtless regret for the next couple of nights, but there you go. The braised steak was subjected to another hour and a half in the oven which vastly improved both the texture and the flavour, so no prizes for guessing tonight's dinner. And i have found a tasty sounding steak and kidney pie recipe which I may give a work out to tomorrow. Not sure where in Oatlands I might find some stout, but I will give it a try. And the anchovy essence will just have to wait in favour of your actual anchovies. Allegedly it will be 20 degrees tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if it achieves it. Meanwhile the other two of the three disasters have arisen. The starter motor of the ute appears to be on its last legs, judging by the sound effects it causes when I try to start the motor. So hopefully no frosty starts for a few more weeks so I can save up to get a new one fitted. And the pump of the hot water cylinder appears to have sprung a leak around the gasket. Was particularly worried due to the electrical connection, but have realised this is off to one side, whereas the leak is running straight down. Fortunately I overpaid the plumber by a couple of hundred quid while I still had money so that one should, hopefully, be fixed as soon as I can get to him (unless it needs new parts in which case I may be boiling the kettle for a while). It never ends does it?