Christmas seems a long time ago, a blur of changes, upgrades and general readiness ahead of the new season. In reality, our season never stopped, and we’ve rolled from the 21 seasons straight into the 22 seasons with hardly a pause in between. Caroline has done her best to keep the cardboard recycling plant going over the last few months, and the amazon driver is now considered an integral part of the team. I’ve done a lot of unboxing for myself and am considering a new career as an Ikea consultant due to my excellent skills in attaching legs and assembling furniture. Since Christmas, we’ve redecorated four rooms in the house. I’ve made new panelling for the house bar, changed lights, removed a sink, hung very heavy mirrors, repainted the barn bar and dismantled what used to be a greenhouse until storm Arwen had its way. On the subject of storm Arwen, I’ve chopped up four fallen trees (one was an ornamental cherry – big sob), and we had four sections of roof replaced. The garden has had a bit of a hiatus over the last few months. It’s in my sights once again and will be getting an excellent scarifying, trim and tidy in the next few days.