Today, the painters are back, the cabinetmakers are due to complete tomorrow, and the dreaded electricians will make their final visit on Friday. Then I get to pay them all, which will flatten our bank account to a very thin scraping of capital, if anything is left at all. Whoopee.

Perth County lies under a thick blanket of new snow, after two days of squalls. Everything in Stratford stopped dead yesterday afternoon at about three when folks who live out in the country realized they had to go home RIGHT NOW or find a flop in town. The lady handling the contract to make our very special bedroom curtains called to apologize profusely because the custom-made traverse tracks had not arrived from London. I told her that I did not want anyone going into the ditch on my account (a ferocious cross-wind scours Highway 7 in these conditions), and she was almost pitifully grateful. She must deal with a lot of diva clients.