Jonathan > Thanks to the windy weather, the air temperature is mild, though in the wind and wet it’s another story! The electric Aga keeps the kitchen cosy and the rest of the house reasonable, but in the evenings the whole household – Denise and I, Tilly and the seven cats – all gather around the fire in the living room.  Our wood-burning stove is very effective and economical, but thank heavens for all that scrap wood from our building projects   So today I’ve been sawing up the heavy baulks (some around 10″ x 4″) that Denise has been unable to tackle whilst I’ve been away.  I’ve also rendered an old decayed beehive brood chamber down to kindling: cedar is incredibly easy to split very finely. Anyway the sawing and chopping gets another sort of warm from the firewood: and it’s good for the health too!