An unexpected Drummond Place committee meeting last night sped the sleeve on towards the top. I may even reach the final shaping today.

Yesterday’s misfortune was losing a choice postcard of Kirkmichael in the final seconds of an eBay auction. The action was so split-second that I think the winning bid must have come in from one of those agencies. Kirkmichael itself doesn’t change much, but we don’t have any postcards in our collection showing children playing with hoops in the street, nor, I think, do we have any taken from that end of the street. We were very sorry to lose this one. The left foreground shows the opening of the road over the bridge which one takes to get to our house. Proper Kirkmichael people regard with some suspicion those of us who live over there. And vice versa. The world is ever so.

I am delighted by the news that President Obama – oh! the writing of those words! – has appointed Senator Mitchell to the Middle East. He is the man, with Clinton powerfully behind him, who brought peace to Ireland, although I have seen credit claimed by Tony Blair; by his preposterous Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time, Mo Mowlem; and even by Hillary. During the conference which produced the Good Friday agreement, Senator Mitchell required the participants to sit down and eat together. If he can pull that off in the Middle East, the job is done. Not this week, I fear.

And I was surprised to hear on the radio in the night that the president has ordered the closing of secret CIA detention centres. I thought Bush told us there weren’t any. We had a wonderful and astonishing interview on the BBC World Service during the night (what would British-based insomniacs do without it?) by one of Bush’s speech writers, maintaining in so many words that waterboarding isn’t torture and telling us of all the terrorist attempts circumvented by information obtained from men so treated. He thought President Obama’s decision a dangerous one.

On the other hand, the decision to repeat the oath of office seems to me childish and superstitious, although I know, of course, as a knitter, the importance of feeling sure that you’ve Got It Right.

I am grateful for continued help and advice on the DVD question – I think I am speeding forwards towards my goal of seeing EZ at last. And for the enthusiasm for I Knit. I think the next time we are in London I will require my husband to do a half-day of art on his own, while I go there.