SUMMER !

late April 2010:

As may be more or less obvious from the timing of this e-mail despatch, things are a tad busy.

We appear to be in (coming towards the end of!) that in-between state when we move, annually, from it being too wet and/or cold to allow for any sensible mind-set, let alone work; to being far too bl**dy hot to permit of the same mad notion. Known as the time of year when we can actually get a few things done around the place.

So much so that a) when Spring first appeared to have arrived on Monday week last, I missed something like a third of it by waiting until Tuesday before getting stuck in to shifting -I genuinely reckon about 100-odd wheelbarrows until c.o.p. to-day, and I’m maybe about ¾ way through- of mud (AND, as an afterthought, builders rubble in the form of a French Window worth of displaced kitchen wall). This means that by now, six working days on

a)      we have slipped seamlessly into Summer

a1)    we are aware of the possibility of slipping back, but

b)      already a skin colour with which I would have been quite content at the close of most previous years &

c)      knackered

d)      I/we look forward to the rest.

Notwithstanding, life goes on. The driveway and back patio are finished (poor sods, THEY did that only about three weeks ago, and were constantly interrupted by rain. During a period when the aged fir tree in front of the cottage was blown down.

As I write, a fresh set of builders (one man who, turns out, is related to our neighbours; and his helper, previously married to the former owner-dweller of our cottage; Who says banjo playing country bumpkins are an Anglo-American invention?).

Anyway. Creates a bit of a back-log in said cottage, where various indoor improvements HAD been slowly proceeding. Never mind, it’ll probably be raining again by the time you read this ……