I think it is high time I go dream of Manderley again

That happens a lot, I'm constantly amazed at how poor a grasp of salesmanship most people have. Simply by rewording an ad it's possible to make a living from other peoples lack of gumption. I'm fascinated by the language of advertising. When I left the security work I discovered that many of the skills that I used as a doorman translated into selling skills believe it or not, and no I don't mean 'buy it or else'!

That house is amazing, I'm surprised it isn't a listed building, it looks like it should be saved anyway. What a pity they didn't build all those 1960's blocks of flats at the cliff edge instead.

Yes, quite a bit of work would need doing to the cliff edge to prevent it going where it's obviously going to go. Further along the coast, a couple of large blocks of modern flats have been built even closer to the edge, although the 'edge' isn't as high up or as steep. In rough weather, they get absolutely pasted by the sea. But I guess that's the idea.

Of course, they are all 'award winning' designs, which only goes to prove that there's a surfeit of design awards in the building industry. One is particularly ugly, and its name - 'Nassau Court' - is enough justification in itself for its demolition. Pretentious carp.

Anyways, helped out at my kid's school last week by accompanying the class on a field trip - the 'evacuee experience'. Took a coach to the train station, and the train to Wembworthy - a beautiful part of the country where young evacuees disembarked during the 2nd WW. All the kids had made an effort at dressing up for the part, and carried gas mask boxes tied with string. Lots of old folk on that early train to Exeter and who were genuinely moved that such an event was being remembered - a lovely touch.

Anyways, as part of their experience, the kids had to darn socks, dig for victory (dig up potatoes - which were then planted in an adjoining patch for the next group...) and prepare vegetables for our lunchtime soup. Ok, I know it was a cold day, and we were, er, working hard, but the soup was thick and delicious. So, I decided to make my own when I got home...

The wonderful thing is that there's no recipe as such required, and it is just wonderful for this weather.

Next time you're shopping, add a pack of red and one of green lentils to the trolley. (The green ones have an earthier taste; the red ones are also nice and thicken the soup.) Oh, a bulb of garlic is good too.

Peel and crush the garlic cloves - ooh, a few - and fry them in a little oil along with whatever - a large onion or two, parsnip (I thought I'd chuck it in at this stage to roast them for more flavour), chopped broccoli stem, etc. Give it a good roasting for a few minutes and then chuck it all into a pan with 2 or 3 litres of boiling water and carrots (as many as you want, 4 or 6 will do), turnip (ok, then - swede...) coarsely chopped, and, well, whatever else you have. Still got a pumpkin left over? Chop 'n plop. Leek? Add it half way through. Parsnip? Yummy. Add a cup of the red lentils and perhaps a little less of the green. And lots and lots and lots and lots of black pepper.

Simmer for around 40 minutes - until the red lentils have thickened everything up a bit and and the veg are chompy. Got any cooked meat - ham, chicken, sausage? Chop up and throw it in with 5 minutes to go. Uncooked meat - cook it first!

Too thick? Add more water. Too watery - tough, it's too late to add more lentils. Anyways, it'll be watery-with-lumps.

Just finished the last of the pan... <wipes mouth>

No need for 'veg stock' - just have it as a more delicate flavour. If you have a chicken carcase left over from an earlier meal, then boil that in the water first for a good 5-10 minutes, remove all the 'bits' and then start from there.

<burp>

just paid £30 to stop the winter this year

bought snow chains so "sods law" dictates no snow this year

you can all thank me later

Do they still make what was once known as 'Town and Country' tyres for winter?

Re branded M+S for the 21st century. I bought my girlfriend some; thinking it might be interesting. I was sadly disappointed on all sorts of levels.

But proper winter tyres are amazing. I had some for my last company car and at anything below 10 degrees the grip was fantastic.
I could drive on fresh snow as if it was a dry road.

(Having said that, I once used them for a couple of days during the summer and on wet roundabouts they were shocking in a completely different way.)

Absolutely, I run my Volvo on a set of Vredestein Snowtrac 2s in winter. They're absolutely brilliant

Winter tyres on a 2-wheel drive perform better than or'nary tyres on a 4X4.

So I've read...