FAVOURITE TIME OF YEAR

One of the good things about living on this usually God-forsaken island happens round about this time of year. Spring. Now for those friends who are living in far away climes, where one month moulds seamlessly into another year round, with the occasional rise and fall in temperature, I apologise for this boastful diatribe, but it really is fantastic to be in the Northern hemisphere right now.

We have been blessed so far with plenty of sunshine and I realised it was time to get out into the garden to clear away the ravages of winter, and prepare for the summer and most importantly, the `Swengland' mid summer party, this year taking place on Midsummer weekend 25th June.

So Trish and I set about, cutting, pruning, planting and creating, not to mention removing two well established shrubs which took simply ages. In fact I was losing all resolution on Sunday with said roots of shrub and was beginning to admit defeat as it stubbornly refused to be dislodged from it's footings. However, at that moment the Conservative party candidate arrived on our doorstep hoping for my vote in the coming referendum or whatever. This horror gave me fresh resolve and I soon had the bugger out and the roots too!

So the work has progressed over the last couple of weeks and the greenhouse is full of flowers and vegetables requiring planting to the raised bed we have created using compost from our bin and molehills from the common opposite the pub. (thanks to Nick Iddon, who has an allotment, for this tip). Years ago I never thought I would be getting into doing this stuff but like life, you get back what you put in (that's the theory, for me it hasn't always been so) and it is a real pleasure to see the garden slowly come back to life, just like the plants within it. The fact it needed a considerable amount of CPR was inevitable.

So now the moment has come to enjoy the fruits of our labour and I'm off to the supermarket (bicycle of course) to buy a few bottles of wine and beer. You are welcome.