Wet,wet,wet!

 Since we came back from our mad attempt at winter walking it seems as if it has done nothing but bloody rain.

This of course is not quite true, we had a wonderful clear dry day a couple of weekends back where I managed to get out on my bike for a couple of hours, and a night where, while it was chilly, clear enough for a barbecue.

But it's true to say the wet weather has meant that games are off - my plans to go and get into retro photography are on hold, despite having splurged on a yet another second hand Praktica and a reconditioned lens, and it's been simply too wet for any serious gardening.

However, things are improving. The jonquils have begun to flower, and the broadbeans, planted in May, are up, as are the leeks and some of the Asian greens.

We did have a couple of dry days at the start of the week, and I took the opportunity to plant my early potatoes, not to mention some new raspberry canes to supplement our existing ones, and another rhubarb crown, as well as weeding and manuring our existing raspberries and loganberries.

And I must say I felt good afterwards. I've always been a dilettante gardener, but became more serious about it during the pandemic, when I made a conscious effort to look for the small pleasures of life, and found that gardening, along with riding my bike, was good for my sense of wellbeing, basically it's good to get out in the fresh air and take pleasure in simple things like flocks of native finches feeding on grass seeds at the side of the track, or the task of digging over a garden bed and planting out one's potatoes.

However, one shouldn't get too lyrical - it's raining again ...