Snippets from March - Part 2

Here we are in the middle of April and whilst I wrote March's snippets quite promptly, it turns out that I forgot to add in the photos and press 'Publish'.

16 March

We carpeted the utidly room, but you already know that because my last post was dedicated to the subject.

17 March

I've developed an inability to pass this pond without taking a snap of the water level! Between the 14th (when I took the previous snap from this vantage point) to the 17th the bin went from having just the very bottom of its legs in the water to having the bottom of its basket submerged - a difference of some inches. 

Returning home I found that someone had snapped off one of the daffodil flowers in our front garden and left it lying by the pavement. I rescued it and put it in a vase, where it looked a bit lonely, but very cheerful on the window sill for the next week.

18 March

And the water was still higher, as well as being a bit choppy. 

20 March

What a display of blossom! The following week it felt like it was snowing down there, as the blossom started to fall.

21 March

I'd been out for a 27km run on the Saturday (20th) and Mick was doing the same distance on the Sunday (in the interests of staving off injury, he's employing a run/walk strategy, building up the run intervals slowly, and is only running every other day, thus our outings and intentions don't always coincide). I'd intended to keep him company for the first 40 minutes, then turn back, but by that point it seemed more appealing to add a bit of distance so as to form a circuit, the second half of which would be largely off-road. I covertly snapped Mick as I left him to head homewards, initially across 'Thistle Field' (still a completely unrunnable rut-fest).

24 March

Mud season had abated sufficiently to entice me to cut across the estate to get to my hill-reps hill (the one that's 200m long with 20m ascent, but is the best on offer in these flatlands). Like the snaps of the pond, I must have dozens of versions of this view, taken over the course of many years. I can say that sometimes in late March it is a hideous quagmire and sometimes there's no hint of mud. This year is somewhere in between (elsewhere through the woodland is still tending towards 'too soggy to be fun').

25 March

Based on my findings the day before, I managed to persuade Mick onto the same route. What a fine day we had for it. Surprisingly warm too, causing quite a bit of clothing to be carried, rather than worn (and at one point stashed in a hedge).

26 March

August and September are my usual jam and chutney making months, however, we had such a glut of tomatoes and apples (not to mention some Scotch Bonnet chillies) from a couple of Lidl veg boxes that I resorted to chutney making in March. They're currently in the 'maturing' phase, so it'll be June at the earliest before they get a taste test. 

Deary me, I've got lazy. Didn't remove the old labels from the jars.

27 March 

Last June I plotted a route that took in the length of every road within a 1-mile radius of home. I then replotted it over and again, trying to make it more efficient (there's necessarily repetition, which I was trying to minimize). I then failed to go and run it. 

Finally in early March I revisited the plan, replotted it a few more times and committed to running it on the 27th of the month. Planning for an early start, I got myself organised the day before, which included printing and laminating the route cards I'd put together as there was no way I was going to rely on my memory of the route, only then to get home and find out I'd missed some little (or indeed, big) stretch of road. 

 Two sets of route cards; didn't want the endeavour to be scuppered by losing one.

As conspicuous as I felt running up and down dead-end roads, it was a good route for such a windy day, as I was never running into the wind for more than a minute or two before turning again. Alas, I'd made the route too efficient, so I had to go around some of the streets again at the end to make it up to the 30km that was on my plan for the day (it was much later that I realised I was supposed to be doing 32km. Hey ho. Close enough). 

Couldn't resist another snap of the pond on my way past

29 March

Time to get some tomato seedlings potted up. Last year I had something silly like 80 plants. This year I'm only planting up a handful.

30 March

Freedom! The 'Stay at Home' restrictions ended on 29 March, so on the 30th we headed off to Cannock Chase, where we very much enjoyed a trot around various of its trails. 

Then we went and sat in my sister's garden for an hour or so.

Goodness, two ridiculously exciting activities (both of which in a different year would have been so run-of-the-mill as to not be worthy of mention) in one day! 

31 March

Could two days get much more exciting than this?! Some fifteen months after I last saw a friend in person, I went and sat in Maike's garden for a couple of hours, drinking coffee, eating the most enormous (and very tasty) slab of flapjack and putting the world to rights.