Not only was this model fun to build – it also shoots little plastic darts.

Adrian finished a Lego Ninjago set he got as a birthday present.

A Crassula (a.k.a. money tree) leaf that has decided to multiply.

Freshly laundered and ironed handkerchiefs.

Eric and I are the only people I know who use handkerchiefs. Old-fashioned, and a bit of work (that laundering and ironing) but so much better than any alternatives. I hope there are enough handkerchief-users in the world that someone will find it worthwhile to keep producing them, even when the generations before me (who I assume make up most of the market) gradually leave the market.

The nights are frosty.

The weather is cold but the ground is not yet frozen so I can still make some progress on the trench for the hedge. I’m most unlikely to be able to finish it before winter, but every bit I dig now is one less bit to dig in the spring.

Today’s digging was particularly frustrating because of this ugly chunk of concrete that was lurking just under the surface. I don’t understand what the guys building the wall can possibly have been thinking when they buried it here. “Nobody will ever find it, it’s buried under 10 cm of earth?” “Surely everyone wants a giant lump of concrete in their garden?”

Adrian is about a year taller than Ingrid – at age seven he is a bare centimetre shorter than Ingrid was at age eight.

It is almost impossible to have too many whisks.

I don’t like buying or owning unnecessary things, especially bulky things that we/I rarely use. We actually gave away our food processor – not because we didn’t find it useful, but because we didn’t use it often enough to make it worth the space. I think not just twice but many times before I buy a special-purpose item.

Everyday tools are a different matter. I want to have enough whisks, kitchen scissors, measuring spoons, saucepans and mixing bowls etc in the kitchen so I can work without ever worrying about running out of them. If I’ve used one decilitre-sized measuring cup for something wet, I want to be able to grab another one for flour, rather than wash and dry the first one. I want a spiral whisk for sauces and a balloon whisk for cake batter, and then one more of each so I can always just work.

We’re baking. All hands on deck – three cakes in progress in parallel, for the kids’ combined birthday party with family and relatives tomorrow. A tosca cake, a raspberry cheesecake, and cookies. Ingrid is enjoying the feeling of peanut butter cookie dough.

My last day at work.

All of this week, the gradual emptying of the office has been very tangible. Nothing is left of the buzz we used to have. The Monday morning company breakfasts, when we barely fit around the giant dining tables, and the shared lunches, and the general atmosphere of togetherness.

Today, for the first time in many months, I arrived to find the office locked, dark and empty, because all the early risers have already quit or been let go. It wasn’t quite that empty during the day, but when I went home – for the last time – in the afternoon, it didn’t feel like leaving the company I used to work for, because the company now barely exists.