For me, preparations for COS always seem to go hand in hand with chaos and near nervous breakdowns! Throughout the 31 days in July there seems to be an onslaught of occasions, from birthdays; happy and sad anniversaries, boys finishing college, university, their continuous toing and froing back and forth, festival and overseas travels (gosh, do they realise how lucky they are?), the mind is buzzing and the earth aggressively spinning! So, come August, there seems to be a desperate need to sit and vegetate – but not for long! The time had come to consider renovating my 100-year old studio and the reroofing was a spectacular success! Thank you Keith Doyle!