Thank you for filling in the survey, those of you who have. Quite enlightening: a surprisingly large number of people read my blog without wearing any socks at all. Also, a lot of you are really into ice. It was by far the most popular item on the ‘recommend something cool’ question. Aren’t you all cold? Or is my blog read almost exclusively by super-evolved temperature-resistant beings? Seriously, though – some good and interesting Recommendations of Cool Stuff too, and excellent salad recipes – thanks.

I have nothing much to report except that this week I have learnt how to make [admittedly rather basic] Wordpress themes, and also stud button earrings. No Wordpress themes are quite ready to be in operation yet, but the stud button earrings are up and running…

At the moment I am in the middle of upcycling [as I believe is the fashionable word for it these days] an old skirt by adding panels of different coloured fabric and making it hippy-floaty instead of super-tight-pencil shaped. Have resolved not to buy any more clothes until I have truly used up all the not-quite-right garments and large piles of fabric which I have collected instinctively for what feels like my entire life, of which I have said I ‘might make that into something’ three or five or seven years ago, and which have been sitting in boxes doing nothing ever since. Although my large piece of really hairy bright purple fake fur might not feature in any garments, I suspect.

I do not know what could be the best use for the purple fake fur. It’s a rectangular strip of fabric I bought for absolutely no reason when I was in the first year of university, and for a while it lived spread out on top of the slightly cranky upright piano in our student house. If there was an open book of music on the piano, and if you were in an anthropomorphic mood, it looked a little bit like a pair of eyes, and the fake fur topping formed an alarming purple toupé. It probably helped protect the piano over winter from the extreme cold that was a by-product of the house not having any central heating. [The other by-products being damp, mould, being able to see your breath while lying in bed in the morning, and developing amazing layering techniques when getting dressed.]

I am quite glad I am no longer an undergraduate student: partly due to now being able to effectively choose warm places to live, but mainly because I think I am now able to make better interior design decisions.