You know that autumn is fading and winter is coming when the mornings start to get very cold. Ann came in to say goodbye about 4.30am, telling me that it was only 2 degrees. I could see her outline in the semi-darkness, her hood in place and her gloves already on. Poor thing, these kinds of days must be hard on a person from the tropics.

It is only three weeks now until we leave for a short holiday in Thailand. I invariably feel a kind of trepidation before travelling, as I do believe and it has been confirmed many times that I am a home-body. I have said it before (and Mr Larkin has said it much better than me) that I would go anywhere in the world if I could return to my own bed that night. I might even go to Mars. But once I am there, wherever there is, things settle down and my metabolism grows accustomed to the uncertainties of a transient existence. Well, almost...

We have now had the first hundred days of Trump and, chaotic though they were, we are all still breathing. They say that a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous, but what about a complete absence of knowledge? Is it better or worse than a little bit? Is total ignorance of how things work a blessing? There are many days of Trump still to run and we are bound to find out.

Silly photo time, do I hear you say? (No, ed.) Thinking of auditioning for a new Lawrence of Arabia movie, I was.