Early night....

The weather has been so bad that we've not left the house all day. Rain and floods have kept us inside counting our blessings. We've been finishing off the Christmas food and catching up on some TV.

It was sad to see the last episode of 'Downton Abbey.' Given that Maggie Smith's Lady Violet must be about 130, I was afraid that they might have been tempted to end the programme with a funeral. But they decided to make Lady Edith happy and a countess and running Alnwick Castle to boot (does the Duchess of Northumberland know?). And Lady Mary discovered she had married trade. There was a dramatic intervention led by Dame Maggie and Mr Barrow decided to be nice to everyone and became butler at Downton Abbey. But, given that it was 1925, there was no chance that he would find a nice, young footman to settle down with. Anna had her baby in Lady Mary's bed and even Mrs Patmore was on the verge of having a little late summer romance with the local pig farmer. I am sorry it's finished. It's been criticised but people have loved it. Even in our egalitarian times, we are still fascinated by the relationships between upstairs and downstairs in grand country houses.

Early night tonight and watching an old episode of 'Dad's Army' in bed....