No.98, Saturday, 14th. March 2026

Spring is fresh, dewy and new, but winter still has a bit of bite left, nipping at the heels of the adolescent upstart that will, any day now, consign it to oblivion.

Today is sunny and only partly cloudy, with a light breeze and a welcome absence of rain. Perhaps an ideal spring day? Probably, but temperatures dropped to 4ºC during the night and, although risen to 8 degrees mid-morning, it remains cold in the home. The withered icy finger of winter may have only a feint presence, but the heating is on nevertheless. A temporary victory?

One of the things you will notice if or when you become a pensioner on a low income is how long it takes to flick a switch on a heating appliance, in my case a gas boiler. Especially in March. It is sunny outside; surely I don’t need the heating on! But March is the fag-end of the heating season, at least here in a temperate maritime climate in the northern hemisphere.

It took a full half hour before I caved into the finger of winter and flicked that switch. Vile fossil fuel is now flowing into my home, depleting my pension as it does so. The grip of oil billionaires on every aspect of our lives is as firm as ever, and there are those amongst us who, sadly and inexplicably, simply cannot see their icy fingers stealing our hard-earned cash.