Yes, I'm still here - still out and about despite a certain amount of Covid-lethargy and 'can I be bothered?' Though when I did go into town on Friday - for the first time in years Christmas shopping in actual shops rather than online - it was lovely to see the Christmas lights and hear the carol singers on Piccadilly. No crowds and I got all my gift-wrapping done for me! It's so long since I last posted that I'm struggling to think what I've been up to. I was looking forward to seeing Operation Mincemeat - so I'm happy to report that it's just as good as I was hoping, quite gripping even though you already know how it ends! Definitely one of my top films of the year, and it made me want to read the book by Ben Macintyre.

I do love a tiara - so I made a dash to the Fabergé exhibition at the V&A, just in case we find ourselves in another lockdown. (I know it was sold out until March/April, but they must have had a flood of cancellations because it was easy to get tickets last week.) It's a mix of the breathtakingly expensive and exquisite - this little rose was unsold stock when the London shop closed down in 1917 - and the downright naff, much of which was made for the British royal family. Though I had to admire the teeny-tiny snail bought by the future George V in 1905 and lent by the Queen - if only because in the intervening years nobody has lost it, trodden on it, and no royal toddler has inadvertently swallowed it or stuffed it up their nose ... I must be common to the core as it wouldn't have survived a week here. The nouveaux riches clientèle are almost more fascinating than the royals. The Watney 'beeress' had a gold and diamond bootlace hook so impractical for everyday use that it had to be re-enamelled after six months. And imagine having a portable bellpush especially for picnics ... press the garnet and the butler will appear with a soggy tomato sandwich. Those Downton Abbey folk were clearly the poor relations of Edwardian society! But I did love the snowflake 'winter jewellery' and the exquisite Easter eggs. Who would have thought, though, that there was such a thing as 'Austerity'Fabergé, bowls stamped with the word 'war' and a miniature cooking pot - that might have been just about big enough for one portion of rationed rat stew in the trenches?