After enduring two weeks of that unique radio channel only painters know about, is it Radio Decorator? All the non-stop, back-to-back hits you prayed you’d forgotten about from the 70s and 80s… (‘Gloria! Gloria!’, ‘I want to break free…’) Well, after two whole weeks of that, we are definitely entering the DIY phase. Most of the rest of the wallpaper stripping and painting will be done by us. There goes my manicure. (No, I’m only saying that to make my friends fall about laughing…)

I did once have a manicure, only to wreck it when I took out my purse to pay. Manicure pros apparently pay first… so why didn’t the beautician warn me?!

Anyway, Annie Valentine’s next instalment of adventures (think Italy, think handbag and shoe capital of Europe) is now on the final copy-editing stage and is due out in a very sparkly cover in June.

Purely in the interests of research, I decided I’d better get onto ebay and find out what it is all about… just for Annie’s sake. Oh boy! Is it not completely addictive? Slightly like drugs, horses and cigarettes all bundled up together.

There’s the thrill of finding gorgeous, gorgeous things you would never have had the nerve to pay full price for, floating about at the kind of prices Primark charge. Then there’s the haggle to buy them.

Bizarrely, I’ve found myself drawn to the shoe listings. Bizarre, because in real life, I’m not much of a one for shoes. I have size 8 feet and this used to be such a trauma to shop for, I think I was scarred for life. However, on ebay, you can just type in size 8 and hundreds and hundreds of shoes, all in your size, pop up.

Which is how I ended up with the green… snakeskin… wait for it… Prada shoes.

Oh yes! Eat your heart out, Carrie Bradshaw.

I’ve had to watch some old SATC episodes lately just to prepare myself for the film coming out in May. (Can the SATC film possibly be as good as we really, really hope it will be? Will Carrie marry Big? And would that be a good thing? I don’t like the idea of a married Carrie with matching silverware, a summer house in the Hamptons, a philandering husband – because you know he will – and a weekly column about hostessing.)

Other things I’m doing this month:

Making a trip to the flicks for The Other Boleyn Girl with my pals.

Checking out my friend Ronda’s glitzy blog

Still dragging myself to the gym (much more fun if your ipod’s on random… stomach crunches to Shirley Bassey, anyone?!)

March already!! What have I been doing?? Hibernating. No other word for it. It’s been dark, it’s been cold, it’s been a very wet and windy winter. So apart from dog walks, I’ve been indoors tucked up in a pair of knee-high sheepskin boots and a floor-length cardigan bashing away at the keyboard. (And people think being a writer is so glamorous!)

My desk always has three mugs of tea on it. The one I’m currently drinking, the one I finished some time ago and the one left here from yesterday. At least once every few hours I take a sip from the wrong one which is just not good.

Winter doesn’t end up here until April. No one ever believes me, but it’s true! Just this week we have had snow and vicious winds which blew the trampoline right over the fence and into the neighbour’s garden, so I’m not quite planning my summer wardrobe or Spring cleaning schedule just yet.

Not that there will be much Spring cleaning going on here as we are still somewhere in the middle of renovation… I’d like to say ‘hell’ but I shouldn’t. I definitely should not moan about the trial of redecorating because one day the house will be really beautiful and although living through the process is annoying, very grubby and let’s not even talk about expensive, it is still a nice problem to have.

The plaster may be falling off the walls, the joists dodgy, the guttering leaking, the windowsills rotten, but it is just such an amazing view! (Yes, that is the sound of my husband weeping in the background.)

What I’m doing this month:

Re-reading The Price of Water in Finistere by Bodil Malmsten, which I love.

Getting a sneak preview read of My Vintage Summer by Jane Elmor (it’s out in June)

Definitely making time to read The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse (promise, Lucie!)

Eating too many Easter eggs. Yes, I know it’s not even Easter yet!

And because of the eggs… forcing myself to go back to the gym. It’s been so long, I didn’t recognise my trainers. Thought they were someone else’s.