Yes, Stilly, the gym is boring. Audiobooks make it tolerable. Long, complicated ones. Churchill's biography of the Duke of Marlborough got me through at least a hundred miles' worth of treadmill.

The bronchitis is beginning to recede, but I'm not sleeping properly yet, or eating much. I have lost seven pounds since I got sick last Tuesday. Not that I want them back, but ...

We are not entertaining this Christmas, so I flatly refuse to do any decorating beyond maybe a wreath on the front door. Neighbourhood standards be blowed.