Woke up to a winter wonderland last Friday, 18th December - which happened to be my birthday. Very pretty, though not convenient.

Today is Tuesday 22nd and the winter snow and ice on display outside my windows now shines with a kind of evil menace in its sly gleam. 'If you haven't slipped up and broken your hip yet, you will soon you old person, you,' it seems to spark. And I know that at my age, if you fall down, even on something soft like your husband or your cat (if I had one, which I haven't), let alone unforgiving hard ice, your bones will more than likely break into pieces and then the medics will take you into hospital and you will never return. Not alive, that is. So, I'm taking no chances because, currently, I'm quite enjoying life (even though Strictly's now ended. Good old Chris. And, to be fair, good old Ricky too).

My dear husband has only recently unplugged his ears from listening to the South African test match commentary. Apparently it ended in a draw - so that was a waste of time then. I often plug my ears into the afternoon play or a science programme and, though we live together, we are in quite different worlds. Sometimes he watches some sport or other on TV, say snooker, then he overlays the picture with teletext results of, say, football, and in his ear he is listening to some other sport, probably rugby because they all overlap these days and there's never a single day when there's nothing on. Still, you can tell by the soft smile on his lips and the occasionally opened eyes that he's a very happy man. That's blokes for you.

Referring back to my birthday, my darling daughter, mindful of my accumulating years, trudged round in the snow with birthday greetings and present and was a warm colourful sight for my myopic dry eyes. And my equally darling son and his little son rang from where they live 100 miles away and sang quite beautifully and loud enough for my deaf old ears to hear. I'm pretty sure it was a rendition of Happy Birthday.

That's it for now. So much to look forward to, though not tonight's TV because there's nothing worth watching on. So I'll set to work making a chocolate mousse instead, for those who don't like Christmas pud. Which is most of them. Nine expected for lunch and fifteen later. If we all stand up straight we should just about fit in!