Jigsaw 23, Series 2

A much more satisfactory puzzle, a Falcon basic from Oxfam for 99p. I should clearly stick with them and not stray; the grass on the other side of the fence is not greener, despite appearances.

There is a decent variety of shape and size of piece. The pieces fit together in a nice positive way and there is rarely any doubt about whether a piece is in the right hole or not. The picture is pleasant and easy going, with no great expanses of featureless waste. The sky, in particular, of very modest dimensions.

Edge first, then the sky line. Then, unusually, the sky. Paused a bit here but then got stuck into the water line, then the upper, shorter tree line, then the upper trees.

Paused again, then had a go at the tree trunk at the right, doing what I thought was three quarters of it. Then most of the lower trees, but remaining stuck with the tree trunk: the balance was nowhere to be seen and nothing seeming to fit around it. Eventually I realised that I had put the tree trunk in the wrong place, that what I had thought was 75% of the trunk was actually 99% of the trunk and should be connected to its base, already in place in the bottom edge.

Confirmation once again of the rule if you have looked for a piece for a while and not found it, it is probably not there. You are probably looking for the wrong piece, having got hold of the wrong idea about what sort of piece it was. Or in this case, about where it was. And while it is not easy to strike the right balance between barking up the tree for long enough to shake the partridge down and deciding that you are barking up the wrong tree, on this occasion I thought I might have sorted it out a bit faster than I actually did. Perhaps I should be doing jigsaws in quality time, rather than in the advertisement breaks on ITV3.

Then, tree trunk finally out of the way, steamed through what was left of the lower trees, the water (helped here by the diagonal scar. Some previous owner must have got cross with the thing) and finally the mountains in no time at all. Overall, an entirely satisfactory puzzle, which will be stored upstairs, rather than retired to the compost heap.

Also the end of an era as for the first time in two years of puzzling, I have no new to me puzzle ready to go, other than a couple of large deluxe puzzles being saved for the Christmas holiday. Do I venture out on this cold frosty morning to Ewell Village, or do I sink to a repeat?