The internet was down for nearly 24 hours (it went last night as we were watching Parade's End episode 2!) but it is now back and we are about to celebrate Biden. If only it was the end of Trumpism. But just remember people that 70 million votes were cast for Trump. And feel despairing or humbled or furious or whatever emotion helps you along. Meanwhile, seeds: we are feeling too impatient and despairing and goodness knows what else today so the only thing that will help is the already blooming ie - hyacinths. This container, planted up with white hyacinths, would be a perfect present for you or for someone else. It 's not cheap but hey we all need a bit of indulgence at the moment. It's from the sensibly named Plants by Post here.

A wildflower meadow, patch, window box or flower pot is always joyful; but surprisingly hard to establish. Go to wildseed.co.uk for advice and seeds.

At this very low point in the new year, and lower than usual this year, we recommend buying and planting seeds. Whether in a garden or a window box, a few seeds will be a wonderful symbol of new growth and new life and new happiness. First up we recommend a grey poppy – it's called Amazing Grey (although actually it's closer to a pale purple than a Persephone grey) and you can buy 500 seeds for £3 here, enough to give them away as presents and still keep hundreds for yourself. 

And we end this week of heroines with one who is, like Stacey Abrams on Monday, very much alive: Jane Goodall. 'She transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.' And were, therefore, crucial for the work of the Oxford team headed by Sarah Gilbert (picture on the most recent Persephone Letter) and their Covid19 vaccine (more details here).

Rachel Carson changed the zeitgeist about the way people thought about the environment. She anticipated so much – global warming, plastic pollution, the decimation of the insect population and, tragically, much, much else. A total heroine. (The crucial book is of course Silent Spring, the biography is by Linda Lear.) There is a website dedicated to her memory here.

Katharine Whitehorn, who has just died, was an astute and funny and incisive journalist who was hugely influential in her day. Here are some of her most memorable remarks eg. 'Newish friends, if they get ghastly, can be weighed and found wanting, but you'd never do a thing like that to old ones; their terrible habits are just part of the universe.' (But mysteriously this otherwise good list doesn't seem to have the unforgettable, and often remembered, quote about removing things from the dirty linen basket because they have become relatively the cleaner item.)

'Janine de Greef, who died a couple of months ago aged 95, was a teenage courier for the Comet escape line that linked occupied Belgium to neutral Spain during the second world war. For three years she escorted allied servicemen from Paris to the south-west city of Bayonne by train, or from Bayonne to the foothills of the Pyrenees by tram or bicycle' (here). There are no words that can adequately express one's admiration for someone like Janine de Greef. (Apparently the book to read about the Comet escape line is Airey Neave's Little Cyclone.)