Lengthening
25 January

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Today I drove home from work without switching the car lights on.

The street lights did not come on until I have been home for a while. I poured myself a glass of Old Speckled Hen and stepped out into the back garden to savour it in the half-light. It is very satisfying to know that the days are lengthening once more. There's a yellow crocus flowering in the front garden.

It does feel that the more usual routines are re-asserting themselves. Yoga on Tuesdays. A lie in on Mondays when others are on their way to work. Quakers on Sundays. Drink with Roland on a Saturday afternoon. Perhaps lunch at the Olive Tree on one of those days with the possibility of being waited upon by the lovely Ollie. We've yet to get back into swimming but that will come.

There's some nice events in the offing through February but, at the moment, we are taking things quietly. Which means that I've had a couple of shopping trips into Liverpool buying sweat pants, trainers, pumps, shirts, jeans (for my expanding waistline), etc.

As you already know, I've done the first of the Quaker Testimony workshops. This coming Sunday, I'm leading the first of the Children's Meetings of this year and I'm doing mono-printing with them. And at work, I'm battling with City and Guilds over certification for my students and have just finished a project to deliver a stand-up seminar about the benefits of Outlook in an office environment. Ross meanwhile is very busy at work with a number of projects on the go and he's also dealing with an infected wisdom tooth.

So, yes, we're going through a quiet phase.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading recently - mainly novels intended for young people.

These books by Philip Reeve and Joseph Delaney are the first two parts of a quartet and an ongoing series respectively. I've liked the easy reading and I've liked the breadth and depth of the imaginative vision. I'd say good to every one of them and I shall look forwards to reading more.

In passing, I note that Heath Ledger has died - it really doesn't feel like just two years since I was agog at his performance in Brokeback Mountain.

And I also note that the full tank of petrol that I bought yesterday cost £70.