Cooking again..............

Well. I did have five zested lemons so forced to make lemon curd. Then had some left over nuts and choc so made chocolate walnut brownies. Fortunately I only ate one small one before freezing the rest. Despite my intentions of stopping cooking. Dear me. Very lazy day yesterday and had a healthy lunch at Mamuska. Rang Victorine for a report on La Traviata which is going down very well apparently: excellent news. There are only eight more performances, and Victorine seems very energised by being in a West End production, and enjoying it a great deal. I should have gone to the dress rehearsal. Curses. I am trying to decide whether to go to the jam session at Toulouse Lautrec tonight. I shall see how I feel later. Was talking to Nibby today about her cottage at Sharplaw. Jo said on Sunday that she thought it was where her brother was living. Sally doubted it, but you never know. Apparently someone bought it who turned it back into one cottage, adding bits on top and a tennis court. No doubt I shall hear. Sal is currently up at Mount Ulston babysitting the place, which will be great fun for her. If I were rich and catless I could go and join her for a few days, but it looks as though snow is setting in here. The guy who asked to stay on Air BnB did not get back to me, so I missed a one night lodger for nothing, dammit. Dorothy says this is par for the course, and I should book anyone in who wants to come and not negotiate on price etc. Francesca has a friend who has a poky room with a mattress on the floor somewhere miles out and inaccessible to transport and she is always getting people. Mind you she is charging only £20 per night so it is not surprising. Last night I put my charges down to £30 a night, which considering all the local hotels are charging over £100 does not seem too bad for central London. Oh well, we shall see. If nothing happens soon I shall have to go down the five nights a week route, though after my last lodger experience I am quite nervous about having anyone for a long stay. The Air BnB idea seemed a good one, but if there is too much competition, probably a waste of time. I will leave it for another week and see what happens.