The Sequel

 I spoke too soon. After granting me three days' grace, the bug returned with a vengeance, hitting me with undiminished force and leaving me, after the fever had passed, with a cough that is worse than ever. Hey ho. At least the enforced leisure has given me time to work on a long cherished side project – a much needed (well, by some of us) index of names and places for The Mother Of Beauty – and I think I have enough of my woozy brain functioning to make a decent job of it. I'm finding the exercise enjoyable, even therapeutic, and will have more to say when it's completed.

  What's more, the weather has picked up a little, with a good deal of sunshine offsetting the bitter East wind (Mr Jarndyce would not be happy*). My spirits have been lifted by seeing a few more butterflies – a pair of bright and lively Holly Blues in a sheltered patch of shrubbery by the Tesco car park (from which one can enjoy a splendid view of the Cathedral), a somnolent Peacock and – always a great moment of any spring – my first Orange Tip. Spring is here, summer will come.

* The reference is to John Jarndyce, owner of Bleak House in the novel of that name, and benevolent guardian of Esther. Whenever he was troubled or anxious, he would blame the East wind. Nabokov called him 'one of the best and kindest human beings ever described in a novel'.