We have an alarm system that emails us when the patio door is left open for more than five minutes. The neighbours think it's close to overkill, but I think losing the family silver once (October 1983) is warning enough for a lifetime.

On the bright side, the cold I caught in Connecticut last weekend is on the wane and breakfast actually tasted of food (instead of nothing). Having been to the gym already, I shall now make a chicken salad for lunch, fold and stow the bed linen I washed yesterday, and put on another brassée de lavage. (I would rather do laundry in French, a language in which one's socks and underwear are brewed.)

Spring has most assertively sprung in Perth County, and our garden is full of periwinkle and forget-me-nots. How cool is that?