The oil lamp that got broken, at least the shade and chimney did, is now restored to an approximation of its former glory. Thanks to Ebay it now has a replacement chimney and a new shade which is slightly different from the original but still nice. The body of the lamp is brass and I keep it well polished so it's an attractive item but it's also practical as it only needs a new mantle and some oil and it will light. Great for power cuts.

This [picture from Ebay] is what it looks like (well, it did, my new shade is slightly different) but mine shines more.

Anyway, this ebaying has...

Spring seems to be on the doorstep. The daffodils are in bloom, the forsythia is a magnificent cloud of yellow flowers and green shoots are emerging from the soil everywhere. The rhubarb crowns are poking up like fleshy pink fists in my "fruit corner" and the rose bushes are covered in green leaf buds.

Tinker, the young cat next door, has had his "little operation" and he's out and about as much as possible. He's got quite good at walking along the top of the 6' fence that divides his garden from ours but he can't get down without going to the top corner and using my garden bench as a platform. The dividing fence, however, doesn't quite meet the back fence and there's a gap of about 4". I've planted...

I've not been very well for a couple of weeks. It was Laura's Dance Show that did it, Nik and I had to walk from the theatre to the pub, half a mile away, for lunch and a bitter cold wind came up. I didn't have a coat with me and got chilled and, well, the usual thing with my condition - I had an exacerbation - fever, cough up what you don't want to know about, antibiotics.

Anyway, I'm over it now but it was nasty, while it lasted, and it's left me feeling a bit weak at the knees. It didn't help that Nik was on a First Aider's course from work, last week, in Hoylake and was out of the house from 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. She's now a qualified First Aider (practised bandaging on me, she was excellent) and she can even operate a defibrillator...

This was the weekend of Laura's Dance School's show at the Parr Hall Theatre in Warrington. They've been practising for months and there were 2 performances, yesterday and today - afternoons. Yesterday Laura's dad and his parents went to watch the show and took her cousin, her dad's sister's little girl, who is 6. Nik and I went this afternoon.

Laura was in 2 acts as she's in Grade 2 ballet and Grade 3 Modern Jazz. She was deposited at the theatre dressing rooms made up ("D'you think I've got enough mascara on, Nana?") and hair scraped back and rock hard with hair-spray - it just makes a bun, she had it cut short last Summer). We knew she wasn't on until after the interval and that it was "Princess Leia" for...

We went to Dunhelm Mill Store in Warrington today, Nik and I. We'd just dropped Laura off at the theatre where she's in a 2 day dance show (her dad and his parents went today, we're going tomorrow) and I wanted a wall mirror for the kitchen/breakfast area.

We found a very nice circular mirror for £20 but, of course, it didn't stop there. By the time we'd done there was also a valance sheet for my bed, 4 new pillows, a pack of net washing bags and - a bolster.

I've been considering a bolster for a while. I've noticed they seem to be coming back into fashion and when I saw them at Dunhelm Mill, reasonably cheap, I decided I'd get one. We put it in the trolley and I said to Nik,
"Your Nan and Grandpa...