The Socklady sounds as if she's doing well, walking up and down the corridor and knitting a bit. It becomes ever clearer that she had a far worse time than I did – and worse hospital food, too.

I had my hair done this morning in order to look, if not beautiful, at least tidy next week in London.

As usual these days, there is little to report on the knitting front. I have turned around again, and made a start on the third of the four bands in the final edging of the Dunfallandy blankie border. As expected, the corner where I turn manifests a certain amount of messiness – but it's nothing that I (and any reasonable baby) can't live with. I should wind and join in the final skein today.

Mary Lou, I find that I quite like doing the tax in January – once it's done. The tax year actually ends on April 5. There was plenty of time to get it done earlier. I used to do it in September. You were allowed – maybe you still are – to submit it on paper if you do it by September.

But then one year things got away from me. If you miss September, the next thing you know is that Christmas takes over life and after that there is nothing for it but to file on-line (which they greatly prefer) in January. And I found it rather exhilarating. There it has remained for me, despite occasional resolutions to get it done earlier.

Why April 5? I love this one. Tax used to be due on the quarter day, March 25. When Britain, rather belatedly, abandoned the Julian calendar, in the 18^th century, I think it was, everything got moved forward 11 days. Many people thought that the government had docked 11 days from their lifespan, and were upset about it. But the government did at least move the tax year-end forward those 11 days, to be fair, and there it remains.

When I was a student at Glasgow, I was on a train once and met a man who told me that in the north where he came from they celebrated the "old New Year" and I realised with a real thrill that he must mean the New Year according to the Julian calendar. (They still do.)

The calendar in ancient Rome was a real mess before Caesar. They had to stick a whole extra month in fairly frequently and it was often done for political reasons, to prolong the terms of annual office-holders, or not, to shorten the terms of others. All that boring stuff in the poetry about the stars is because country people, at least, would have had to be able to read them if they were to have any hope of getting the seeds in at the right time. Caesar must have called in the right team, for his calendar reform to have lasted so long.