2421 steps. Helen and I got around the garden once -- it was very cold and there was some ice underfoot. I’ve done a bit of indoor walking since.

 

Today’s news is that I have registered to vote. Scotland extends the franchise to all residents (thinking ahead to independence, perhaps). I can’t vote for the parliament at Westminster, obviously, but there is certainly one and there are quite likely two important Scottish elections looming: the Scottish parliament in May, and IndyRef2 not long thereafter, if the National Party gets its way.

 

And Gudrun’s hap moves forward. I’ve now done 10 ½ scallops of the edging on the second side – another four points for the sidebar.

 

Thank you very much for all your help with Bernie Sanders’ mittens. Pam even sent me a picture of a whole knitted Bernie Sanders. I’ll ask her if it’s all right to post it here.

 

And tomorrow, insh’Allah, I’ll get vaccinated.

 

Life

 

Here’s a picture of wee Hamish in the tee shirt I got for his Christmas  – “I survived 2020 Never Again”. It would have been funny if it had arrived in time, but it didn’t. By now, 2021 seems, if anything, worse:

At least it seems to fit.

 

I’ve been making sourdough today, to go in the oven first thing tomorrow. It feels oddly heavy: I haven’t got great hopes for it.

 

I’m revving up for another batch of kimchi, when my Tesco order arrives on Saturday. They’ve got mooli’s and Asian pears, as well as Chinese cabbage.

 

Edinburgh’s great department store (every city has got one – or used to) is closing, after 183 years. It’s depressing news. When we were first in Edinburgh, in the mid-nineties, they had an excellent yarn department on the ground floor and I often dropped by for some stash enhancement when I happened to be passing. Then they moved yarn to the very top of the shop. The building is owned by Anders Holch Polvsen, the Danish multi-millionaire who owns a great deal of Scotland.

 

Reading

 

I finished “What to Look For in Winter” at last, and have moved on seamlessly to Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen. It’s first rate. For all my grumbling, I find I miss McWilliams’ voice now that she’s gone.