Thursday and I wake up and rise before 9 am. I do breakfast and coffee before getting trapped by a crime programme on TV. Basic mistake turning on the TV in the first place , need to stop doing that. I go to the Shed to write letters and there I stay till lunchtime writing away with my new glass dipping pen, a Christmas present. As I leave the Shed to get a lunch time coffee I note that the Shed door has come adrift at its lower hinges. I am not amuse and alarmed that my Shed (haven from the world) is in disrepair. I immediately spring into analysis mode. Clearly the screws are to small and short. I consider the age and state of the wood to take bigger screws. I calculate that I need to increase the Shed frame depth to take take longer screws and provide good anchorage for the hinge screws. This is a project requiring my particular skills. I’m good at mending stuff, as witnessed by my Mr and Mrs Mickey Mouse restoration of a few days ago.

I return to the house and gather up the tools and materials I need and return to the Shed foregoing my lunch. Time is of the essence in these times of decreased day light. I cut a reinforcing wood block and screw it to the inside of the Shed door frame. This will provide additional depth and strength to screw into. I test out some new screw lengths and settle on two inch ones to replace the old ones. I dowse the hinge with WD 40 to ensure it actually moves as it should the reset the door in the frame so the hinge is lined up correctly. It is then a case of screwing in the new retaining screws and making sure they anchor properly in the newly reinforced frame. All goes well and to my great pleasure the door is back in full working order. Time to put the tools away and indulge in a late lunchtime coffee and a chunk of Panettone.

I return to writing letters until my first round of new year correspondence is completed. I pack up the Shed having first Hoovered it thorough as an early Spring treat, and return to the house. I pop out to the post box and send my letters off into the world. On my return I realise that I have not got ant fresh past for tea so go off to the village in search for some. Todays lesson is that none of the shops in the village stock fresh pasta. I settle on a bag of dried pasta and a paper. My walk back was longer than I expected. The gas pipes in the village are being upgraded and replaced, which means that today the gas company have started to dig up the road block off the pedestrian pathways. Whilst I was in the Shed the gas replacement representative took my partner through what is going to happen when they get to us. We will lose gas for two separate days in the coming week and have been provided with a heater and a single ring cooker plate. It all sounds plausible and doable but having read the information package they gave us there are some possible tricky bits but I guess I will find out in due course.

Evening arrives and my partner makes our Thursday traditional tea of tuna past. Tonight there is to be no singing lesson for my partner so there will be a quite evening of viewing. I start to draft the blog and look forward to an early night. It’s beginning to feel as if I am recovered enough to start training again. At the back of my mind is the approaching oncology review and I am like a dissatisfied athlete who has not been in training and has a race to run. Still at least I got through my first wave of letters for the new year.