Good news/bad news

Today has been a day devoted almost entirely to domesticity.

With the gardener expected, I spent much time in the garden collecting up the best of the Bramleys. People are in such a rush to harvest their fruit, but in fact the apples falling now are the best of the crop - very often completely undamaged by insects; ripened by the sun and as sweet as can be when cooked - no sugar needed. I have put bags of the them in the shed and though some will go bad, I hope to have a supply for some time. I am boring on this subject, I know, but they are so much better than apples bought from the shops.

Then I did my weekly shop - I managed to go at lunch time when it was quite empty. I took the precaution of having a crispbread and cheese, as it's a bad idea to go shopping when hungry. Alas, this particular crispbread, having lots of seeds in it, seems to have attacked a filling, as I felt a piece of metal in my mouth. I've booked up the dentist for next week. Fortunately, I got back in time for a dramatic scene on the Archers (dramatic enough to be listened to twice.) But once home, having unloaded my shopping and had lunch, I've hardly had time for anything else.

Yesterday afternoon, the phone rang and it was the organiser from the HE Bates short story competition. He rang to tell me I was one of the four finalists with my story A Glimpse of the Sky. (I shall put it on my website very soon.) I was delighted, though on further reflection, there's no point in getting too excited as I might be in fourth place earning myself a certificate saying Highly Commended. Jennifer is going to the award ceremony and will collect my prize/certificate. I in the meantime will be at Guys and Dolls.

That was the good news. The bad news was that M came back from the body shop to tell me that the little bump would cost £700 to fix.

The people at the garage gave us a number to ring to try and get a new door, and tonight, we 've tried that out and lo and behold four calls came through with doors on offer. One is now being sent to our garage and is a lot cheaper option than them mending my door, which some anonymous person biffed, without my knowledge.

Tonight the VAT beckons.