We drove the two hundred miles to Sandhurst today with heavy hearts for many reasons. We’re having to come back and face the world. We’re so sad to have left Cornwall behind, especially as it has been glorious weather again there today. The traffic has been hideous – four and a half hours instead of our usual just over three. AND, we have a car load of dirty clothes and ‘stuff’. I have a sneaky feeling my day tomorrow is going to be full of the pleasures of washing and getting clothes dry.

I got in and checked out the fridge, where there were a number of things that had grown crusts, spectacular mould or worse and decided that even my keen-ness to cook up feasts every night for our supper would be tested to its limit with two mouldy carrots, two satsumas (one half-mouldy) and a lime as the only fresh food in the fridge. Ah well, at least we have the luxury of a dial-in Dominos Pizza close by.

There was a bizarre story on the radio the other day about how the satsuma growers of Spain were grubbing up their trees and replanting their groves with mandarins and clemantines because apparently the only nationality who loves the Satsuma is us – apparently the whole of the rest of the world prefer the other types of small orange. It is supposedly getting harder and harder to source our Christmas fruit of preference these days and some supermarkets are considering buying groves to stop the trend going any further. So, when I saw these in the farm shop on Christmas Eve I decided as they may be the last we get the chance to taste, we’d better relish them!

Weirdly I find myself feeling apologetic for this photo and text because of the huge problems of feeding the people in Asia whose lives were turned upside-down last weekend. But after we’ve done what we can financially to help, there is little else we can do so really I can’t see why I should feel so worried about confessing to letting a couple of carrots go mouldy.

I found a nest in the garden with seventeen eggs in it this time last year!