Tonight we're in Cornwall - I wanted to spend my recovery time from my op here in my sanctuary. I can't wait to wake up in the morning, open the curtains and sit in bed watching the weather. And what weather. We've got gale force winds, driving rain and everything is being whipped round in a frenzy.....which is great because we've got no roof!

That's not as bad as it sounds (well I hope not anyway) - there is new felt and battening that we are told is waterproof and shouldn't come down. I hope they're right - I don't fancy being woken up to rain on my face as our roof is whipped off and over Caradon.

DM bundled me into the car this morning, along with the dogs and our important stuff for the two hundred mile long trip with the weather forecast as bad as you'd want it and probably much worse than we should really have been out in. All I had to do was sit there, propped up by a cushion and snooze but it was still hugely wearing.

I was so relieved to turn off the main road for the last ten miles of our journey but how I now wish we'd been ten minutes earlier than we were - we saw a dog get run over in one of the villages just off the main road. That is my biggest and most potent fear. I adore our beautiful pups and am so paranoid about them near the road that I go into apoplexy every time we have a moment with them. Not that we often experience mishaps but we had a moment when we first took out the hedge here in Cornwall when Arch spotted one of the neighbourhood cats and jumped over the wall into the road. He's not done it since because he quickly realised he couldn't get back. The only other recent mishap we've had was when I was sick last week and opened the house door without considering where the dogs were and Archie thought he was going in the car so he ran into our drive. On neither occasion was there any danger but my legs turned to jelly and my heart pounded when I thought about what might have happened. This became a reality for the dog owner and the dog we saw today. I send my best vibes to the little black dog that he recovers from his injuries.

Our cottage is not massively comfortable because we've very little furniture here and tonight it's full of dust but the wiring is finished and the chimneys are being done next week.

I insisted on bringing my flowers with me so we've travelled here with two vases full of flowers propped into secure spaces on the back seat of the car in amongst all the other detritus that has come with us. So tonight's picture is flowers that travelled (!) from San Francisco to Sandhurst then to Cornwall, on the cabinet that we laughingly call our kitchen, with our 180 year old door and beams in the background....oh and new lighting (minus its shades) and tatty plaster!