Ross and I have been pressing on with decorating the kitchen.
We've got to the point where all the wallpaper has been stripped off. Most of the filling has been done. Some of the woodwork has been stripped. We're almost at the point of making it look good again.
I've done more decorating in this house than I did in all my three previous houses in Burnley, Liverpool and London, put together.
The garden is a continuing joy. We seem to have created a haven for life with increasing numbers of butterflies, spiders and bees visiting us. I sat out there this afternoon with a glass of wine reading and listening to Vivaldi mandolin concerti and Haydn string quartets. Ah, life!
I'm currently reading The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown which offers a host of new perspectives about a period of European history which is completely unknown to me. Take the following...
Seen in this light, the history of the Roman Empire is the history of the ways in which 10% of the population, who lived in the towns and have left their mark on the course of European civilisation, fed themselves from the labours of the remaining 90% who worked the land.
In some respects, as Ross noted, nothing very much apart from the scale of the oppression has changed very much. I've also recently struggled through the painful, martyred ambiance of Graham Greene's A Burnt-Out Case with its dissection of ennui and loss of faith.
We've also spent some time on the beach. Beautiful views out over Liverpool Bay. Right into Snowdonia if its clear enough. And there's the SeaCat storming out over the Irish sea to Dublin if you're there at the right time.
And now, thanks to Roland, we've found a more than decent fish and chip shop in nearby Waterloo.
Ross and I say it often to each other but we couldn't be more happy living in this part of the world.
Oh, and Saturday marked 10 years of Classic FM.