Well. I can’t believe how much stuff we’ve done between us, Vic and I. We have, over the last week, defrosted two freezers and a fridge, made two dozen mince pies, thirty double choc chip cookies, and are almost ready for Christmas.

Making mince pies isn’t as hard as it could be. We buy frozen shortcrust pastry, which is dairy-free, and jars of mincemeat, so it’s just a question of slapping the two together and cooking them. They do taste home-made though, so it’s very satisfying. We have eaten all 24 of them between us since I made them on Friday! So I’ll need to make some more, but there’s plenty of pastry in the freezer ready.

Tomorrow is pedicure day – hooray! And the nail tech says she’ll be able to Calgel my fingernails next week too – excellent. I am hopeless at putting on nail varnish. I can’t reach my feet for one thing – I’m not particularly tall, only 5’3”, but my back is so bad I just can’t do it, and when I had a go at painting my fingernails last night I remembered why I don’t wear nail varnish! I don’t have very steady hands, which is essential, so the nail varnish goes all over the shop, so I just end up getting cross and taking it all off. Thank goodness for Calgel. Hooray!

Our neighbour, who I think is almost 70, managed to shut herself in her porch yesterday. It’s a tiny little porch, barely room for her (and she’s tiny too) to stand up in. Also it’s on the side of her house, so not visible easily from the pavement. Vic had (fortunately) gone for a walk round the block to blow away the cobwebs, and saw her car interior lights flashing on and off. It happened several times, so he was going to knock on her door to see if she knew it was happening, but then thought that she might not answer the door in the dark. Then, very luckily, he heard a “little voice”, and when he got up to the porch, there she was. No coat, no shoes, only slippers, really really cold and desperate to go to the loo. She had visions of dying of hypothermia in there overnight, which I think was a real possibility. She only had her car keys, no house keys, no mobile phone (note to self – always, always have house keys and mobile phone on one’s person). I phoned her last night and popped in today to see if she was ok. She was, but shaken up, and very determined not to let it happen ever again.

I would have been in absolute bits, floods and floods of tears, but I never go anywhere without my house keys and mobile phone – and certainly won’t do so now. Poor woman.

Weather is now less cold, mostly about 4° C in the day, but miserable and wet. And we’re expecting more snow at the end of the week. But I have some new red wellies, with red treads, and they’re excellent. They go with my red Land’s End knee length parka coat, which is lovely and warm. I also have some wellie socks to keep the feet warm.

I notice that a lot of online traders have had to stop deliveries in Scotland because the weather is so awful. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I can quite understand it, but what about the poor old souls who can’t get to the shops for the very same reason? Let’s hope everybody has a good neighbour.

Bertie the cat has managed, finally, to get inside Vic’s wardrobe. She has been desperately trying to since she arrived here 18 months ago, and has finally done it. Once she’s in there’s lots of thumpetty-bumping around.,but I don’t think she’s done herself or anything else any damage. We’ll know soon enough when Vic finds something destroyed – although she’s not a destructive cat, just curious, like they all are.