When you have something that you love and cherish, it’s hard to turf it out in the cold and wet but DM’s had to do that this today with his precious Lurker. I think the world may well end if the weather turns nasty again because the poor little car has nowhere to tuck up warm, dry and safe for the next 5-6 weeks. DM may go into terminal decline and I dread to think what that’ll mean for me and for the poor workmen who are toiling away on our building site. Still, the good news is it’s running better than has been the case at any time since he first acquired it from Luke in the early noughties.

You might say that the beetle is living up to its name lurking in the shadows, hiding behind the hedge and hoping no-one notices it gleaming, shining and twinkling.

As for our building – day 2 and a bloody great pipe has been discovered in a place where it didn’t out to be and this means the first bit of our contingency is about to be eaten up. You know those home build/renovation programmes where the build costs three times the original budget? Yep, those ones. They are keeping me awake at night at the moment!