Sunday, 1st February, 2026 – Uploaded scans of the last fourteen pages of my scrapbook to my website. Received an email from Chris saying that he has bought a house in Kirkby Stephen. He had been looking for a house in this area for years.

Tuesday, 3rd February – Went on a Kendal Ramblers walk from Otter Bank, three miles north of Kendal, to the site of Holme House, where traditional farm buildings have been replaced by ugly modern ones. I wonder if this is a taste of things to come. From there, we followed the River Sprint and the Dales Way through unfamiliar countryside to Patton Bridge and so back to Otter Bank.

Wednesday, 4th February – The indoor plant has now reached the top of the window.

Thursday, 5th February – The computer read aloud something that I had typed in without being asked. It sounded as though it had been read perfectly by a woman, but it couldn’t have been.

Sunday, 8th February – Read on the Internet that only one in eight thousand living people are the subject of articles in the English language version of Wikipedia, which means that I am very lucky to be one of them.

Monday, 9th February – Took the revised map to the post office to send to Nick Burton and went via the riverside just in case the path had been reopened in the last few days, and I found that it had, so I went home for the original map. Received an email to say that my article won’t be published until the summer.

Tuesday, 10th February – Paid the road tax by pressing buttons on my telephone. My plant has finished flowering now. When I am typing on the computer, it sometimes guesses what the next word is going to be before I type it.

Saturday, 14th February – Because fine weather was forecast, I went for a walk on my own along the Dales Way from Windermere Golf Club to Hag End and back along the road.

Sunday, 15th February – Sent a message to the Wainwright Facebook site disputing the claim that Haystacks can be seen from the Darwen Tower.

Tuesday, 17th February – I had time to spare before going out, so I tried to start compiling an index to my collection of scenes from television on the computer, but I couldn’t start a new document, so I used a pen and paper. Went on an eight-mile walk with the Kendal Ramblers in beautiful weather from the Leisure Centre to Sizergh Castle and Helsington church. I am finding it increasingly difficult to see where I’m going when the sun is shining. I spent the rest of the day working on my index.

Wednesday, 18th February – Went for a walk in Serpentine Woods, where I took photographs of two fungi and a moss, none of which I had seen before

Thursday, 19th February – I find that I can work on my index most of the day because it requires very little thought. I have been trying to do this for months, but every day I become exhausted as soon as I start. Now, suddenly, the work has taken off. How can it matter that I don’t live in a beautiful house when I possess what must surely be the most beautiful collection of anything in the world?

Saturday, 21st February – Finished the index. There are about a thousand sequences between 2014 and January 2025. In some scenes, the sound has been replaced by an inferior commentary. In others, there is no sound at all. None of the sequences would have been any use anyway because they start and finish in the wrong places.

Monday, 23rd February – Found a copy of Cosmos by Carl Sagan in the public library. This is the next best thing to the television series, which has not been shown since it was broadcast in 1981.

Tuesday, 24th February – Cut the groundsheet in the hall cupboard in half so that I can cover the damp part of the bathroom floor. Finished typing an index to recent scenes from television on Blu-ray discs, which have none of the problems relating to the version in the computer. My ultimate objective is to create an index to the whole collection.

Friday, 27th February – Received a statement saying that I shall receive royalties for The Eastern Fells, The Far Eastern Fells and A Coast to Coast Walk, but not for any of the other books that I revised.

Saturday, 28th February – Watched a programme about the recent reintroduction of pine martens into Dartmoor and Exmoor.