Not my photo but illustrative of weather here over the weekend. Daughter up the hill with her partner was without electricity all day yesterday, luckily they have an enormous wood-burning stove and plenty of candles. Down here it was dark and drear and I would happily have stayed in bed all day if necessary ( if there had been a power cut here too; I have no means of heating that is independent of electricity) but I had to do the weekend shop, so I donned gumboots, mock Barbour (so much less slippery, hard, and cold than the real thing) topped all with a woolly hat, only to feel a complete fool as I waddled through the doors into Tesco alongside other customers tripping along lightly in high heels and sleeveless Tee shirts. Tough lot.

Then I was treated to the wine-and-view afternoon package. Last week was a bit tense and I'd been enjoying chilling out with Miss Marple on Saturday so I wasn't quite ready for 'Le Silence de la Mer' Jeanne-Pierre Melville 1949, which is in many ways an amazing film - it was made from a novella written during the war, but the mood I was in it was just too dark. A German officer with romantic notions (it's true that the Germans are by nature a VERY romantic race) about the beauties of La Belle France and her literature, who sees the Occupation as the beginnings of a beautiful marriage, and enjoys being billeted with an elderly French gentleman and his niece to whom he discourses about his dreams each evening before he goes to his room. He gets no overt response from them but subtly wins a way to their hearts. Eventually the reality of the Fuhrer's intentions find their way through his carefully guarded heart and he applies for a post at the Front, presumably hoping to be killed.

Too dark what with all the weather and - oh god what's happening in Japan. Poor, poor souls.

As a side thought on that terrible news : I hope the 'let's have lots more nice clean nuclear power and no nasty noisy windfarm' enthusiasts in this country will take heed...