Winter

'Central heating's kaput.' Hodmandod Senior remarked cheerfully as I was dragging myself into the kitchen this morning. Hodmandod Senior claims to be as much an owl as I am but really I think he is a lark in owl's feathers.

It was freezing. I sat all morning warming myself by the light of my computer monitor doing nothing waiting for the service engineer to call. Very, very bleak. Happiness quest all but forgotten. Zilch writing. Zilch anything. I phoned my parents and told them what was happening. 'If you can't come tomorrow, don't worry, it'll be all right.' my mother lied sweetly.

The engineer failed to phone back but arrived in person mid-afternoon. He politely ignored the mess. The spider webs are weighed down by dust. I am waiting to see how long they go before breaking.