Thank you for your good wishes. I did have a lovely, quiet, relaxing time and I’m home now, though very tired. It’s a long journey. However, it’s one I still choose to make regularly for now.

I expect I’ll say more about the visit soon. But for now, a catch-up with things here, mostly because there’s not much to say. I got home about noon, having stayed with John overnight – we altered the arrangements from Sunday lunchtime to Monday afternoon, which made things easier – and Wink made me dinner and we have finished a bottle of wine. She cooked scallops, which made eCat very happy. She even overlooked the garlic as she was so happy to have scallops.

I have made an appointment with my accountant. It isn’t for another 7 weeks, but I’m busy until then.

I’m sorting out some of the rest of Tim’s affairs. Two last things to cope with, one being simpler than the other.

Then, I’ll get on with sorting out the rest of Russell’s affairs. Widowhood isn’t just about grief. It’s a long slog towards practical completion. That doesn’t supersede grief, though.

I’ve spun a few plates since I got home, but more are starting to wobble, so there are things for tomorrow.

I’ve been invited to a birthday party in August next year. There’s a very limited chance I’ll be able to go. Tempting, but. I’ve also been invited to a birthday party, a golden wedding anniversary and a wedding this autumn, these being three separate occasions and I’ve accepted all three of them. Maybe I should go to Chennai next summer after all.

After Russell died, probably a year afterwards, there was a cold day and a dismal weather forecast and I said that I fancied relighting the Aga, but it was too early in the year – not quite autumn. And then I thought, what if I died in the night and I hadn’t had the pleasure of lighting the Aga? So I did and – evidently – I didn’t die and I’d had that pleasure anyway. You get to the stage in life when a pleasure, if deferred, might never happen. One forgets because one still sort of feels that there’s plenty of time. But there isn’t. So do it, if you want to and you can.