We finally got round to having the carrot and ginger soup today. You couldn’t notice the ginger, but I managed to find some coriander, and added a handful of that to the pot. It was a great improvement. Next time I will try lentils, as suggested by Helen.

Well, next time I will try celery. Next time I use carrots I will try the lentils. I haven’t used them for a while as Julia always feels the need to mention them, a sign that she’s on the verge of a complaint. The trouble is that she just doesn’t appreciate my exotic cookery.

We had Storm Franklin today. It’s the third named storm of the week, and it is all getting a bit stupid. Whatever happened to the days when we just had wind and rain? Weather is not improved by having a name and I really can’t see the point. It rained. Then it was windy while it rained. Then it was dry and windy and then it rained again. The ornaments on our mantelshelf vibrated every time we had gusts from a certain direction, which became wearing after a time, but that was really the worst of it for us.

Unfortunately, when I check up, a lot of reports say that it is going to get worse, which is worrying as I thought it had passed over. That’s the trouble with all the detail you get in weather reports these days – they tell you a variety of things and they don’t always agree with other reports.