World news

The building collapse in Poland is rightly headline news. All too often n thousand people killed is relegated to "other news" unless someone British is involved. I spent six hours in Katowice railway station in 1992. I was waiting for a night train to Praque and had, unwisely spent all my Polish money.

Last Tuesday was the kind of day that makes you want to emigrate. Pitch dark, freezing cold and icy drizzle falling. Today was one of those dazzling icy blue winter days that make you change your mind. I was in Hawick briefly and the view from the Dunion Hill was beautiful. There are currently plans to put a wind farm on top of it and we've had protests arranged by earnest green-welly types who've been handing out posters and suchlike. In fact the hill is festooned with radio antennae already so a couple of dozen 3MW wind turbines would probably go unnoticed.

Probably...:-)

The aim of the trip to Hawick was to get some paint to paint Room 8. It was formerly a bedroom but opens off the residents' lounge so it's not of much practical use. We're going to use it as our bedroom while the rooms we're in just now are transformed into letting rooms. The carpet's being fitted tomorrow so there was the usual mad dash to get the painting done first. The woodwork's been done - all that remains is the walls and ceiling. It's a low ceilinged room (the doorway is absurdly low) so there's no need for ladders.