I could look out the window all day - so no need for curtains

I've never needed to be convinced of the cognitive benefits of looking out the window.

- Tim Dowling

I would do it all day if I thought people couldn't see me.I'm currently staring out of our front window, arms folded, at the large puddle running along the road's edge outside our house.

It normally appears after a sustained period of rain, and disappears after a day or two. But as a dedicated observer of things happening outside this window, I can testify that the puddle has now been there for three uninterrupted months. I've come to suspect that rain has nothing to do with it: the puddle is being fed by an underground source.

Today's events seem to confirm my opinion: as I watch, a man in a hi-vis vest is placing cones around the edge of the puddle.

“This is a big day for you, isn’t it?” my wife says. I don’t know how long she’s been standing right behind me.

“It’s a big day for all of us,” I say, without turning round.

“Something actually happening outside your window,” she says.

“I knew if I was patient, this moment would come,” I say.

“We need to do something about these curtains,” she says.