Well, five days to go and we are off on the marathon drive back to Belfast – and it cannot come fast enough for me. It’s the weather here you see…I am fed up with it.

Take a look at the pic – that’s our courtyard recently as it started snowing and today it is pretty much the same. The puddles have turned to ice and our pretty little wall fountains (just to the left but not pictured) are full of ice which is really confusing the few frozen little birds that forgot to fly south.

That’s my beloved olive tree in the centre of the pic – five years here and not one sodding olive. I always hoped it would bear some fruit but it was never to be. See that bench chair…? about three weeks ago we had a sudden wind about 5am which was actually a mini tornado – that bench, which weights a ton, was picked up and tossed like a leaf across the courtyard!

I was hoping that the cold in Belfast would not be as extreme as it is currently is here but it looks as though I will be wearing three layers of clothing for some time yet going by the reports of some friends over there.