Cleaning the two cottages this morning was a doddle as the lovely people had been tidy little beasts and so apart from excessive crumbs in one of them, it was easy. From there I ventured up the road and discovered that the providore is finally open. So I bought a wedge of blue cheese in earnests of future custom and headed home. The local market (which was supposed to include a car boot sale this month but didn't) was four stalls, all looking rather tired and unpopular so I helped Heather carry her un-sold stuff back to her place and had a cup of tea with here while being introduced to her kitten. It is tiny and looks far too young to be away from its mother but seems to be coping, if a little confused by the litter tray (there are so many other more interesting places to 'go'!). So glad it is her coping with a kitten and not me. I prefer my cats to be grownups thanks.

Mine seem to be coping nicely with being totally indoor cats (an innovation brought about by the frequency of snake sightings in the back garden) and have shown no signs of stress about the business at all. Sebastian is fast asleep on my bed and also seems pretty relaxed about life at present.

I have been thinking long and hard about Vera's place and really the only way I could do it would be to seek an investor's loan from the bank, pretending I intended to rent one of the properties, then hope I sold my place for a good price in a few months. Even that is dependent on the exchange rate remaining as favourable as it is at present, so on reflection I have concluded I must stay where I am. Still, the real estate agent is coming on Tuesday and she may bear more positive tidings, though I doubt it. So - unless I win lotto with my present ticket - here I stay. Still, I was very excited about all the changes I can make with the money in terms of increasing the habitability here, and so I shall remain positive about that instead.

Lit the fire this evening. I suspect once it has become warm I will let it go out once more, but it is nice to have it going just at the present. I had a total of 27 mm out of yesterday's rain which is the best I have had in a long while, so I am pretty happy about that. The tank would have overflowed had I been collecting off all of my roof and not just 2/3rds and of course, if I had had more than one tank I would have been laughing!

Tonight's dinner will be chicken sandwiches with mayo and salad ingredients - and from there I will have to start thinking about what to cook for dinner once again. Though with more hot weather looming for New Years Eve I am not sure cooking will be high on the list.