Packing away the frosted glass nutmegs, walnuts and fir cones till next year. Late I know, but it’s been a busy week. No matter how careful I am, I always manage to shatter a few. This is partly because some are getting very old and brittle now and partly because I’m just clumsy. I have lost four old favourites this year. (Dropped two, trod on one and another fell to pieces in my hand.) Still, fewer broken than the year the cats pulled the entire tree over. Rather than put the tree out for collection we trim the branches and use them to protect the emerging spring bulbs from the pigeons who like to peck the buds off and then the trunk is sawn into logs.