The miserable cold with which I’ve been afflicted has lingered on and on, causing the last week to have become a total blur. Apart from crawling to the barn twice a day to feed the animals, I have spent most of that time in bed, coughing and wheezing and lapsing in and out of sleep. It’s a good thing my professional workload has been light. 

Without a voice with which to talk on the telephone and with a head too stuffed up to read with enjoyment or comprehension, I decided to make a companion of the small television set in the bedroom where I became transfixed by the new DIY channel that has recently hit the air. Watching women with power tools renovate old bathrooms was a particular favourite although my drowsiness never permitted me to catch a single episode in its entirety. 

Just as I would warm to an episode showing someone adapting an antique bureau to accommodate a sink, I’d doze off again and waken to a crew on the following programme that I’d never seen before, ripping the cabinets out of an out-dated kitchen. One show morphed into another and eventually into my dreams.

Still, when the time comes to tackle the bathroom in this old farmhouse, I hope I’ll have osmosed at least some appreciation of what the job requires. At the very least I’ll have a much more enlightened view of the possibilities.

In the meanwhile, having wrapped his film in the city, Sasha came home for the weekend and could mercifully tend to the household routine and to me. Although he still has three more days in which to complete his returns and all the attendant paperwork, the hours are much shorter and we can begin to ease back into normal life. 

Savouring a steaming bowl of his wonderful garlic soup,  I can scarcely contain my relief.