It could have gone either way this morning

That’s it.
I have had enough of this winter and it’s only December 6th.
It is dark. It is cold. It is wet. It is sleeting. it is half past seven in the morning and it is STILL DARK.
But I am going to stuff my bad temper back under the duvet and play the glad game and tell you about four little things which delight me:

1. going into Waterstone’s and buying a book and using my Society of Authors card to get 10% discount. It’s not the discount – I could have got more without the card on Amazon – it is the flashing of the card: what a frisson.
2. having a quick instant email exchange with Isaac – 5,000 miles away - at the odd times when our time zones happily interlock, such as 6 a.m. my time.
3. the fact that my sister Kath and I both buy fruit and veg from the same market stall – she in Newark, and I in Bakewell – and that Gwen, who works on the stall, is perfectly happy to take a package from me on a Monday and pass it on to Kath on Wednesday. It feels like something from Lark Rise to Candleford, and I love it.
4. going to visit Zoe and family. Even when some of the attractive personnel are absent.

But there are many delights quite apart from the parents of said personnel. They are so creative that everywhere you look there are unique, attractive, funny and fey decorations, such as this advent calendar that Zoe made this year and gave to Brian -



And this valentine coaster she made for him some years ago -

here’s the other side of it -

And here’s an old Christmas card that Brian made for Zoe. It’s the size of a magazine cover, Zoe’s head has been transplanted onto it and Brian has changed all the existing straplines into family in-jokes, but you can nevertheless get the drift.

This week Brian is printing their Christmas cards from a lino–cut done by Zoe – can’t wait to get mine.