This week, Britain has been experiencing a cold snap. The temperature has fallen to well below freezing and this at a time when the price of fuel has risen to unprecedented levels amid fears that we might actually run out of fuel supplies.

London has not been hit as badly by the weather as some regions. The mercury drops several degrees below zero in the night and during the day struggles to rise a few degrees above freezing.

We use our heating as sparingly as possible, running it only in short bursts, typically when we get up in the morning and during meal times. Even so, I shudder to think what the fuel bill will come to.

Tigger has been to work during the week, of course, but she has managed every day to “close the ring” (see Dull Sunday for an explanation) every day and I admire her for this.

I have gone out daily for my walk though yesterday I went only as far as St Pancras, entering the station to warm up before riding the bus home.

A while back, I recounted that I had bought a new glass teapot from a company called Hario – see A new teapot. I then explained how I broke the lid and made a replacement (see Expensive lid). All went well until – crash! – I dropped the teapot which shattered into smithereens. There was only one thing to do: buy a new one!

New teapot

I ordered the teapot, not from Hario itself but from Amazon. This saved me a couple of pounds on the price of the teapot and delivery was free despite the article apparently being sent to me from the USA! It pays to shop around.

Last night (Friday), because it was so cold, rather than eat out, as we often do on Fridays, we ordered a takeaway. We chose one of our favourites, Holy Cow in Chapel Market. The food is brought by Deliveroo, usually by bicycle but yesterday on foot. Despite this, the food was still hot when it arrived.

I am writing this on Saturday morning. According to the Met Office, the temperature stands at -1°C but will rise to 2°C in a couple of hours. I don’t yet know what we will do today but I’m sure we will think of something! Whatever it is, I will recount it here.