Very draining ...

An appropriate image for today, as the central heating system drains into the  garden through a little pipe I'd never even noticed. Quite apart from the surprising detail that emerges when you photograph the front of an old house - the house is grey, not red; the lichen creates interesting patterns on the stone; the weeds among the pebbles look quite vivid still - the metaphor for how I feel at the moment was irresistible. The ongoing displacement of my life, the nasty suspicion that one is becoming used to chaos, the feeling of looking a bit like Alan Bennett's Lady in the Van - all these contribute to a drained feeling, the sensation that life is happening rather than being lived.

But the boiler's back on now, and the plumber is, appropriately, "bashing on" ...