Progress.

The hallway now looking decidedly bare. A greatly reduced mixture of Swedish and Scottish furniture now waiting for shipment to pastures new. The borderline great news is that the offer on the Scottish cottage has been accepted. Absent carpets and furniture The Rickety Old Farmhouse sounds different. It echoes more. There would have been a time when Sophie would have enjoyed high speed rug-surfing across the floor tiles. Now, with the advent of titanium knees, she's moved onto less arduous pursuits.

In the in-box an e-mail from the water company. A prohibition on car washing, garden irrigation or topping up the pool from now until the end of October. Failure to comply will occasion a E1500 fine. Thank heavens the well has sprung back into life.

At this time of the morning the village doesn't look too parched. However, the latest water restrictions will put paid to the old mayors valiant attempts to keep the grass on the village green and around the war memorial alive.

By the time we've toured the village, opened the church and checked on the moorhens in the village pond it's turned six thirty. No opening the shutters today. The air outside is already hotter than the air inside.

Should it go or should it stay? A gift from an old friend in Berlin. On the day of German reunification he had to attend the formal handing over of the East German Navy to their West German counterparts. My old friends escort from the East German security services handed over the formal documents in a Stasi issue brief case. To stop documents being stolen the case came with a length of string . The two ends of the string would  have hot wax poured over them before being sealed in place with an official stamp.  A flap on the front of the case then covered the still warm wax. If the string was broken or the seal tampered with the recipient would know that something was amiss. Lo tech but effective.  What do you do with something like this ?