The cold

The autumn and winter catalogues have been arriving in our postbox and as usual the colours are drab and dingy. I know I’ve said it before but if I was in charge of the fashion world I’d make the winter colours bright and vivid in winter to make up for the grey skies and the khaki fields and the lack of flowers. Dave sees the catalogues (e.g. Poetry, Wrap, Baukjen and NRBY) and  says “Why have you got these? They’re for young people,” and I correct him. Vociferously.

This year, however, I looked at the trousers and found nothing I wanted to buy, because they’re either weird unflattering shapes - barrel, carrot, balloon - or they’re too wide for everyday country life, or they are cropped. Who wants cropped trousers in the winter? I want warm ankles! When I said this to Chrissie, I realised that it shows I am officially old. On Everwood all the women wear cropped tops and low slung trousers, exposing three inches of abdomen, even in a Colorado winter. If my gran were alive she’d be worrying about them getting chills in their kidneys, and now I’m the same. Hey ho.

Talking of cold, my big sister just texted to ask if we have enough heating oil. We didn’t stock up on the heating oil before the (unexpected) war on Iran began in February, and the price of it now is literally double what it was in January. Imagine if your gas or electricity bill doubled. And the price is not regulated, as electricity and gas prices are. The price of heating oil seems to be a blind spot for this government and yet 1.5 million families depend on it because, like us, they are off the gas grid. The government has been talking about regulating it for months, and they are still talking. They offer a small amount of financial help right now to people on very low incomes, but we are not in that category. 

So we plan not to have the heating on until it becomes absolutely necessary. We have enough wood, thanks to Dave, 

and I just have to remember to light the stove before I get to the stage of feeling miserable.

But we are lucky. We’re not living in a tent in Gaza with no food and at daily risk of being killed. 

Here is a link to Gaza Soup Kitchen 

https://gazasoupkitchen.lonelyorphans.org/

Lastly, I just reread The Correspondent and enjoyed it all over again. It’s one of my favourite books from the last few years.

I am now reading Helen Garner‘s collected diaries. The book is called How to End a Story. It is 800 pages long! It’s gripping. Also very unusual. I can imagine some people not liking it at all.

What are you reading?