Darkness Descends
4 November

I'm sure it was lighter on those early November mornings last year.

I'm sure that I remember being delighted that, when the hour changed, I could once again sit outside in the blue hour and have a cup of coffee. Even if only for a few days. If I did, however, I simply did not write about it in this Journal.

I just have the impression that this year it just seems darker. And I don't think that it it has simply been the extra layers of cloud.

One thing that has held over from last year is the overall mildness with daytime temperatures into double figures and nighttime temperatures not falling by much.

It's been a bit of an online world of late.

I've applied online for job with Land Registry. This involved completing page after page of information about myself. However, if nothing else, it has given me a few ideas about exercises to do with my students at work.

I've bought some chimney balloons online. These are inflatable pockets which site inside the chimney and reduce the amount of warm air escaping up the flu. Along with the work we had done to sash windows earlier in the year, it should make our house increasingly energy efficient. Next year, we want to have the ceilings replaced in the bedrooms along with the loft insulation. So, we should be really snug if we ever do get any really cold weather.

And then finally I bought my new car tax disk online. This was probably the most efficient of the three but was certainly the dullest.

We also managed a trip to the legitimate theatre for the first time this year. I persuaded Ross to try a Saturday matinee at the Liverpool Playhouse so that we could have a go at the Northern Broadsides production of The Man With Two Gaffers freely adapted from Goldoni.

It would be really nice to say that it was a wonderful, life-changing experience but, in the event, it was good, clean dirty fun - not badly produced but not exceptional either. Three stars for charity.