| Fri 1 | Cold, with wintry showers. Sorry, this is not an April Fool. |
| Sat 2 | Why do my fingers smell of curry? Because earlier this afternoon I was immersing 3 poussins (which I’d spatchcocked) in a curry marinade, ready for tomorrow. |
| Sun 3 | My stupid chilli plants. Pruned a month ago, they’ve grown at most 6 inches, and already have flower buds. |
| Mon 4 | Last week was one of “those” weeks. It’s only Monday and this week has already qualified to join it. |
| Tue 5 | Had to bite the bullet and order Mrs M a new PC having failed to satisfactorily wrangle the current one back to working well. I don’t know what she does to them. Still she’s paying! Now looking at upgrading mine too – it’s only money! |
| Wed 6 | Pigeons pecking peacefully at discarded seeds. Suddenly a flash of tabby & white from nowhere (ie. behind the hedge). Pigeons scatter airward. Tabby & white already back in lair. So fast I couldn’t even see if the cat got pigeon for lunch. |
| Thu 7 | Body clearly making up for two short nights sleep. Awake at 7 this morning; next I know it’s 11. Been behind all day as a result. |
| Fri 8 | Having ordered Mrs M a new PC, I’m now seriously looking at one for me. Can’t get something beefy enough off the shelf; don’t want to DIY it; but custom builds take at least 6 weeks (why?). |
| Sat 9 | I’d given up on them. Special offer wisteria plants ordered early in the year should have arrived a couple of weeks ago. But they arrived today, and look good, if small. Now to find good pots for them. |
| Sun 10 | Still playing hunt the PC. Have found a possible (well reviewed) supplier who will custom build in under 2 weeks and is UK-based. I feel an order coming on this week. |
| Mon 11 | Another wasted day … waiting for the delivery of Mrs M’s new PC. But UPS didn’t. |
| Tue 12 | The lawn hasn’t been cut for almost a year but surprisingly is only half way up our cats. This week it’s growing a brilliant crop of cheery bright yellow dandelions. I’m torn between leaving them, picking the petals to make wine, picking the leaves for salad or digging up the roots and roasting them for coffee. |
| Wed 13 | And yes, Spring really is a-coming in. The cherry tree and crab apple are in flower, the other apples are well on the way, and in the last couple of days the first butterflies: brimstone and holly blue. |
| Thu 14 | Two punnets of raspberries in the supermarket delivery; and different varieties. “Malling Bella”, grown in Spain: large, dark red, luscious berries (almost like good loganberries); superb fragrance and flavour. “Kwanza”, grown in Portugal: lighter red and smaller berries, perfectly nice raspberries but definitely less flavour and rather more tart. Eaten for pudding with flaked chocolate and double cream. Yum! |
| Fri 15 | Spent most of the day setting up N’s new PC. Actually Windows 11 isn’t as bad as most people make out. Yes, it’s different, but if you use the setup options carefully it isn’t that different. One good thing is that the machine came with Windows 11 Home, but there’s an instant upgrade to Windows 11 Pro (for a fee, of course) – and I mean it is instant! |
| Sat 16 | The bluebells are out and the lilac is not far behind. It’s also been a good couple of days for butterflies: as well as the brimstone and holly blue of a few days ago, today a beautiful new speckled wood dancing in the sunshine. |
| Sun 17 | So we have a lovely sunny long weekend, and what am I doing? Sitting indoors “jellivating” because I just can’t make myself do anything. Bah! Depression! |
| Mon 18 | An afternoon spend fiddling about with family history; trying to see if anything pops up on any of the problem areas. No, nothing. |
| Tue 19 | You can tell Spring is here. I’ve just spent the last three days (and of course nights) without a stitch of clothing. OK, I’ve not been parading around the garden showing off to the neighbours, but I have been 3-4 metres outside the back door. |
| Wed 20 | Phew! At last I’ve finished fettling N’s new PC, having been waiting on a backup drive and then testing. Now all I have to do is install it on her desk. By which time my new PC will have arrived (assuming DPD play properly). |
| Thu 21 | Today feels like a day spent marking time. Still, N’s PC is installed on her desk. Meanwhile my PC has arrived in 2 large boxes, which will be investigated tomorrow. |
| Fri 22 | Restaurant quality food this evening. N did an old favourite of hers: Pork in mushroom & cream sauce. Very yum! |
| Sat 23 | Hmmm … fresh pineapple with coffee ice cream doesn’t quite work. But it was an interesting experiment! |
| Sun 24 | They tell me today was Sunday. |
| Mon 25 | Two full days slog has got my new PC to the stage where it can get it installed tomorrow for the final conversion. |
| Tue 26 | Phew! Finally the new PC is in place. Just a couple of glitches still to settle, plus setting up automatic backups. |
| Wed 27 | After several nice warm days, it’s a typical English Spring – back to being dull, grey and not very warm. And good grief, the birds have emptied the nut feeder again, in about 4 days; mind you, they’ve likely been helped by the local squirrel. |
| Thu 28 | It’s all computing at the moment. Decided to clear out all our old computer junk. Started with the 2 crates worth under my desk. Found a laptop which hasn’t been touched in over 3 years; it still boots into Windows 10 with the correct date & time too! |
| Fri 29 | Very early this morning (like 06:30-ish) saw two pairs of birds high up; one pair appearing to pass something between them. They looked very like Hirundines of some form: I don’t think swifts as the flight wasn’t quite right; more likely house martins; possibly swallows. Only in view for a few seconds, so hard to be certain. |
| Sat 30 | You stand in the kitchen putting together some salad, and the cats drive you demented. Tilly and Rosie are in and out, crashing through the catdoor, as if on elastic. Scarcely a minute goes by but one or other is going one way or the other! I’ve never before known cats like these two. |
