I am still around, but for the last few days I've felt like I had time either to write words or to write comments!

Not that I wrote many words, either - 101, and some general tidying up. I think I was mostly busy sewing up some of the charity knitting - hats and so on - that's lying about being untidy.

From about 1600 the trade in coal had become steadily more important as the pressure on wood for all kinds of purposes grew and less could be spared for fuel