Can we talk about skin please? Dry skin? Because my hands really struggle in February. Each fingertip hosts a small and painful skin-split that usually takes ages to heal.

Thankfully I’ve found an amazing cream to help. La Roche-Posay’s Cicaplast Baume B5 is perfect for irritated or chapped skin. It’s quite lotion-y in consistency so I was sceptical as to how it would fare, but it’s really rather good, as it knits your skin back together while soothing sore and inflamed patches.

It is gently antibacterial (handy for those cracks in fingertips) but suitable for very sensitive skin.

And it helped my painful Aga burn during the week too.

La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 costs £16 for a large 100ml tube.

A host of stray threads
threadbare shards at my fingertips
not for weaving embroidery, embroiled in
the struggle of holding a teacup of apple juice, cloudy,
but sharp.