This photo is a mix of vaguely OK, complete cack and utterly wonderful for the following reasons:

Vaguely OK - It was taken late at night, after a trip to the pub and quite a lot of beer!!! I took another shot a few moments earlier that was actually a technically better photo, just lit by candlelight but without DM in it. When he climbed into the fireplace and asked me to take another, my slightly squiffy brain told me to shine a torch on him because there was only light around his feet and legs. That meant that I lost texture on the front of the fireplace so that's why it's only vaguely OK.

The completely cack bit is the fact that a human being (no, not even super-human DM, especially after two pints of HSD and another of Tinners) can stand still long enough to be sharp in a 30 second exposure so he's as blurry as my vision was at the time!!!

The utterly wonderful bit is that he is still my 'burning love' after four years of a passion and tenderness that I never thought I would know in my lifetime. It is the 'anniversary' today of our first date. Our time together seems at once a 'blink of an eye' and at the same time an eternity but in reality it is four years since we crossed the boundary between being old friends and lovers.

Even though I took a number of technically better photos today, this one encapsulates my day much more effectively than they do so this is what I have decided to post.

We were both really excited all day, waiting for 4pm, when I could legitimately jump into my trusty Vectra, head home from work, load the car up and get on the road to Cornwall. The reason for our excitement was that our builders have been in all week and we'd been told to expect a filthy mess but a newly exposed, beautiful fireplace and a newly installed cast iron stove.

They weren't kidding when they said a filthy mess. The whole house is so full of dust that it's impossible to get it out of my pores, nose or throat. I can feel it as I breathe and taste its metallic tang in my mouth. They were also spot on with their assessment of the newly exposed fireplace. The one that was here before was a really dodgy 70s looking monstrosity. Behind that was one from the turn-of the century (between 19th and 20th centuries) and behind that again was this one - the original 180 year old granite one. It still amazes us how with no modern tools they could cut slabs of granite like the lintel seen here and also how they managed to get it in position. It must have taken several men to lift.

As you can see though, there is no stove, lovingly cast in a small factory in Exeter. DM was not happy, in fact he was extremely grumpy. We thought we'd be able to end our anniversary tucked up in a cosy, candlelit room with a bottle of wine and Jools Holland but it was not to be.

I persuaded him that the best way for us to keep warm was a trip to our 'local' down the bridlepath from our house, where there was sure to be a huge fire blazing. That's what we did and I'm pleased to say his humour soon returned when we were installed, with dogs under the table by the side of the fire with pints in our hands.

At closing time we braved the bridlepath back, rather than the longer but more gentle road. It's so steep we had to stop a couple of times to catch our breath but it means the dogs can be let off their leads and have some freedom to snuffle around in the undergrowth. We got back in time for Jools and managed to have one of the three elements of our fantasy by watching the show but we were cold and had lost interest entirely in the wine by then.....which is just as well really or a terrible hangover would have ensued!