I've finished correcting proofs, and they're back in New York. Still got photospreads to finalise. Only two months & a day to publication - it's an amazingly swift turnaround. And today here in the northeast of England, it feels like spring at last. There's a blackbird nesting in the shed we use as a utility room; she's looking very motherly, and surveys our intrusions with equanimity. But they'll nest anywhere, however unsuitable for their babies. They thrive here, despite a high casualty rate. It's a scattershot policy, and it works. So they're individually foolish but collectively wise. The opposite of us.