Last minute dash to Milton Keynes for the Vanessa Bell exhibition - where it struck me that as well as Virginia's £500 and a room of one's own, it helps to employ two nursemaids, one for each child ...

And a housemaid to sweep the room of one's own. I'm not a fully-committed Bloomsbury-ite so the people-watching opportunities in the gallery brought me great joy: so many artsy ladies in scarves and amusing hats and artsy old gents with Quentin Bell beards, and one wonderfully rotund old codger in hysterical pants. I did wonder what the future holds for Bloomsbury-worship when this generation of acolytes dies off.

I was intrigued by this electric(?)fire -

And by VW's revolutionary ideas about coffee and table settings: 'We were full of experiments and reforms. We were going to do without table napkins ... we were going to paint; to write; to have coffee after dinner instead of tea at nine o'clock. Everything was going to be new, everything was going to be different.' I hope the coffee didn't keep her up all night. I enjoyed the Famous Women Dinner Service with plates commemorating Queen Victoria and Jezebel, Jane Austen and Miss America 1933.

And I loved all the flowers ...

Well, bear with me while I get back in my stride - but I will say that this Iranian film is simply gripping and had me on the edge of my seat last night. (Word of warning, it's VERY long!) 5* from me, although it does strain credibility towards the end - but I was so engrossed that didn't bother me at the time.

Is there anybody there? Well, a couple of people were kind enough to say they missed me. And it's only taken me five months to work out how to load pictures again. (I wasn't on the case 24/7 but I did sporadically try, honest!) Anyway, an anonymous query last night asking if I'd retired from blogging prompted me to google - and this time I came up with an answer that worked! So here's a picture to celebrate the spring that hasn't yet sprung around here - but I'm enjoying the daffs that were 19p a bunch in Waitrose this afternoon. Normal service could well be resumed soon - although I'm not sure you've missed out on much as the blog hiatus has coincided with a long lethargic spell here. (Weather, more weather, house sale that was sensible but nevertheless sad, and penny dropping that having long believed I was completely devoid of any work ethic, even so I'm bizarrely unsuited to retirement.) And yes, I missed all of you, too!