Gleaming

We've spent the morning buffing up the house. At the crack of dawn tomorrow we have some house-hunters coming to have a look. Normally the garden is full of flowers, even in winter, however this sub-zero week has put paid to all that. The pansies and roses have all taken a turn for the worse and look awful. All the other flowers have simply dropped off. We have a freezing gale blowing and Ali's gone off in search of cut flowers for the main rooms of the house.

We only live in one half of the house during the winter, but because we don't want 'the other end' to feel like Siberia we have had the wood burner going in the apartment for the past week. Boy, it takes some stoking in this wind, but the temperature has risen well and it feels as welcoming as the main part of the house.

Unfortunately the swimming pool is under its winter cover which itself is covered in thick ice. Now that doesn't look very inviting. The two magnificent lemon trees by the front door are dripping with fruit but I've had to put white frocks on them to protect them from the cold so they've lost some of their charm.

Any suggestions for what we might do to make it feel like a great Mediterranean house in the depths of an ice-storm?