EMERGENCY MANTELPIECE BLIP

In the absence of anything apart from dismal grey fog outside, here's a bit of colour which also makes my house look warmer than it feels. I went out for a rehearsal with the care home choir, singing carols in the back room of the pub down the road and walking back warmed me up. The chrysanthemums and ferny bits in that vase are part of the marked-down bouquet I bought over two weeks ago and blipped a few days later. Cut chrysanths last for ages in my house, whereas potted ones invariably keel over and die in a couple of days wherever I put them and whatever I do to them. It's a mystery.