Today, comrade, I am working at home

It was cold in the conservatory. TSM and I sat side by side and plodded through the day wrapped up to the nines, eating hot soup, drinking endless tea and stuffing our faces. You have to combat winter with fuel for the body.

The Dizzle said I looked like Putin’s rival, but he would be photographed topless in the Volga. I am not made of that kind of stuff. But I was uncannily productive today, and surprisingly focused.

We abandoned plans at the end of the day to go out and get drunk because it was too wet and cold. We listened to radio 4 and drank beer instead, and I made an impromptu tofu in satay sauce.

Absolutely lovely FaceTime with The Girl Racer. She was so excited at her new mentoring relationship and was so gushy, it was lovely.

Gutted at the death of Jeremy Hardy. Saw him live at Hay last year, he was full of energy. Bummer. I fell in love with him on Radio 4 when he did a comedy thing with his then wife Kit Hollerbach back in the eighties. RIP...