Whenever there’s a national crisis, and until March 2020, there have not been many such worries since the cessation of WW2 in 1945, people tend to become negative and this global pandemic has brought out the whiners and teeth gnashers. However bad a situation, as we know, there are always some good elements. We are not able to visit any heritage properties currently. Nor are we cable to take advantage of forthcoming spring weather with trips around the huge great decorating and furnishing show rooms and emporiums. These by definition do not supply essential goods such as food or medicals – although to a house mad officianado, these are very essential! But whilst we cannot go round fabourite haunts, we can take part in zoom meetings of all sorts. Being able to join zoomed pilates sessions with a group of ladies who all live in gloriously old beamed cottages in a tiny village some miles away is one of the pure and unbeatable benefits of this lockdown. I can do my pilates lesson and enjoy seeing a beautfully furnished and decorated cottage – without any effort or expenditure!