Up in Co Durham. My mother in law has a large ramshackle house with views over the Co Durham-Northumberland border. The foothills of the Pennines are clearly visible on a not too distant horizon. In winter the wind and rain can be epic as it rolls in over the hills, sounding like cheap sound effects from a 1950s horror B-movie. The compensation is the frequent, equally epic, sunsets.

Lesley reports the landline out-of-order problem to BT on their automated complaints system, They warn it may not be fixed until Tuesday and, if it is our problem, we will be charged £130! At least I have the 4G on my phone.

Mid-morning and Lesley gets a text to say they have repaired the landline! So, as usual, somebody has accidentally pulled out a connector at an exchange somewhere.

We go out shopping. The inestimable wonders of Consett Morrisons. Makes a big change from Consett Tescos! Some rain sets in and lasts for much of the day.

I listen to some Shostakovitch in the evening. Not my usual listening but I am really enjoying it. I follow it up with some Satie.

I have received no call from the discontinued hospital number that caused me such disquiet yesterday.  I regard this as confirming an attempted scam. The only question is whether there was some malice in consciously mimicking a number which would cause panic to patients or whether it was a blind automated system which just picked up my number by association. I guess the latter.