Well, although not exactly a deluge, it did snow this morning which still counts. So 1 to us, 0 to the unbelievers….you know who you are…Kevin…..amongst others.

Alfie and punky accountant managed to rouse themselves this morning at 8am, despite the freezing weather, and went to work at Gouhaut on the promise that we’ll pay for them to stay somewhere with proper beds at the weekends. Punky, who was painting, really enjoyed himself. He’d never done anything like it before but enjoyed the time to think, apparently…which felt like a small triumph. It also meant that he didn’t have to feel bad about asking for fag money. Tonight we all win.

Etienne, Louis and I went off this morning to buy a birthday present for Mathilde, a school friend whose house they were going to in the afternoon. As it was advertised (by phone the day before) as a party, we all assumed that it was her birthday and ended up buying a ‘memorable’ piece of jewellery which Etienne thought she’d like. As it turned out it wasn’t her birthday at all - which probably explains why her mother looked so confused when we turned up with a gift wrapped box and Etienne’s electric guitar and amp (at the request of friends). That left the whole afternoon free to (instead of doing the admin. or whatever else I should have been doing) trying to download Halloween sound effects for the video we’re trying to do. Being creative it seems isn’t as easy as people make out, even with the internet and without the kids. My piece de la resistance today was making a mask of Damian Hirst’s Diamond skull (with added glitter effects) for Matt to wear in his role as ‘the devil’. Here, too, the dog puts his own slant on the role of Mephistopheles.