The weather continues to be very wet and windy. Even in daylight, it seems gloomy, with a low grey sky and constant howling gales. Every dog walk seems to be a battle against mud and squelch and the house seems to be always full of drying coats (ours and theirs), boots and yet more mud, no matter how much I try to keep it clean.

Yesterday started with a visit to the vet for Booty. She does not like going there and while we were waiting to be seen, was shaking all over, even though the vet is a kind and gentle person. We have had concerns for a while over her shoulder. She's been on Synoquin since the autumn (as has Andy as a prophylactic measure) - canine glucosamine/chondritin. This did help, but in the cold weather just before Christmas, she stiffened up again. I wanted to make sure that nothing else was going on and to ensure we are managing it as best we can, although arthritis can never be fully cured, just managed. Vet has decided to start her on a non steroidal anti-inflammatory, and has also given us the details for a hydrotherapy pool not too far away, to be tried if the tablets work and help to manage the inflammation in the joint. This will help to ensure that there is minimal muscle wastage around the shoulder area, as he commented that already there is a little bit of it in the shoulder area, which can then exacerbate the problem with the joint and her movement. I will write more on the hydrotherapy later, but won't be trying it for at least a month, after the AI has been working effectively for a while (Previcox ). All this may sound rather gloomy,but of course in practice she is keen on her walks and loves to run over at Cosmeston - the key is to keep it that way for as long as possible. As she is also very stoical, I also want to make sure she is not in any unnecessary pain.

We then took them both for a walk at Tredegar Park (not the house), which are the playing fields and park just over the roundabout from our usual haunt. A firm path which is an important consideration in this weather -all the playing fields were not being used and many had huge pools of standing water on them, an indication of how saturated the ground has become.

Home for a morning of drying out, breakfast and then domestic pursuits. Spent a happy afternoon curled up on the sofa cross stitching while watching QVC's Craft Day. Usual quota of hideous tat but also a few nice things - I bought some adhesive ribbons at a very good price. Used QCut, their automated system, this is incredibly fast, efficient and impressive. Why can't local government use this level of technology for phone payments?

In the evening, Andrew made a risotto, using some of the turkey stock from Christmas that we had frozen, and some really good Parmesan. We opened our last bottle of Mearsault 2002 - we bought a case of this for Christmas three years ago, but due to illness, didn't get around to drinking it all at the time. Anyway, it was delicious when opened but we have had several bottles maturing nicely under the stairs, and it has been fascinating to watch how the colour and flavour has developed and deepened. From being a pale yellow to start, the colour of the last bottle was a deep honey gold, and the flavour had rounded gorgeously - ah, bliss. Mearsault would be one of my favourite wines.

We watched V for Vendetta, which A had recorded over Christmas. A certain irony in seeing John Hurt who played Winston Smith in 1984 then playing the Dictator/Big brother character in this film. Some interesting ideas, but I didn't feel they went far enough or developed them sufficiently. Orwell of course has set the bar for writing about the way power affects language and history (our reshaping of it to fit current mores). More contemporary was the idea of a government faking a large terrorist incident to whip up support for measures that are anti-libertarian. There is a large body of opinion on the Net (not one I share) that the 9/11 and even the 7/7 attacks were staged or had deep government involvement.

The film also featured a ubiquitous role for Steven Fry as the persecuted gay and I also wondered how Natalie Portman felt about some of the Holocaust echoes - head shaving, biological experiments on prisoners etc.

This morning has dawned wet and windy (surprise!) and we'll be taking the woofs over to Cosmeston later for a run and a walk.