February

Seville, November 2016

Another successful Gulloebl Film Festival has taken place chez Lola II and Mr M, with the usual high quality films and hospitality. My favourites this time: Grosse Point Blank (which was much more funny than I remember), and Best in Show (which was just as funny as I remember). My contribution was to drive mum and dad over to join in - the first time they have been to the house for quite a long time.

Meanwhile, the LRTP continues with Ilf varnishing stairs and kitchen doors and painting kitchen skirting, walls and ceiling. It all looks beautiful. I have, at last, felt able to just sit and read a book for an hour or two without the nagging feeling that I should be doing something. Of course there are still plenty of things I should be doing, but at least I can relax some of the time.

I have made an investment in buying a ski helmet and ski boots. The procedure for fitting the boots included measurements, a certain amount of trial and error, and experimenting with different manufacturers. Sadly the ones that fitted best were plain black and white rather than the blue and electric pink ones with furry lining. The inners were softened by heating and moulded to the shape of my feet. I've been wearing them around the house with rags tied around the bottom to protect my lovely floors, and the fit seems perfect. I'll be trying them out in the field next week on my second ski trip of the year.

The main thing bothering me at themoment is entirelymyown fault. In a distracted state I looked at my laptop keyboard and wasmildly dismayed at its filthycondition. So Iremoved the space bar and did a fair amount of cleaning witha small paint brush. Canyou see what has happened since then?