Amazing website

I would just like to share with you an amazing new feature provided by The National Trust. They posted the following from their Facebook page: "A collection of our castles, country houses and outstanding landscapes have now been added to Google Street View. Nineteen of our properties and landscapes can now be explored online, giving people around the world the chance to catch a glimpse of places they might otherwise never see." I have just had a walk around the Avebury Stone Circle (left) on a warm, sunny day, and didn't even have to watch out for sheep droppings! You can have a wander by clicking here. Happy trails!

New year, new projects

Well, it is now well into 2010 and time to get back into the regular routine. The house is desperately messy and I will be putting a fair amount of effort on getting it back up to scratch over the next few days. Nothing triggers off my borderline OCD tendencies like a messy house! But there are also a couple of other things I want to do to get my house- literally- in order.

Firstly I am going to break the habit of a lifetime and get rid of a large number of books. It goes against every fibre of my being- I am the granddaughter of a librarian and Professor of English Literature- but I simply must admit that I have bookcases full of books that I have not, nor likely ever will, actually read. So I am going to flog them on a popular internet-based purveyor of books and other sundries, and at least that way I may actually get a couple of quid for them.

Secondly my spare-bedroom-cum-workshop needs a bit of sorting out. I am going to move all my craft books to the bookcase in there, and move around some of the flotsam residing inside the wardrobes to make space for material, supplies and- eventually- some finished items. Yes, I am still considering starting that little income generator but it is still very much in the Research & Development stage. Meanwhile I can at least get my space arranged comfortably!

There are other longer-term projects taking root in my mind, and most fall into the "home improvement" category. Basically since we moved in just over two years ago the carpets (all a very fashionable but wholly impractical beige/biscuit colour) are grotesquely dirty and the walls all need a coat of paint. We are also considering replacing the barely-functional central heating system, but not until the cold weather is a distant memory!