M&S hot cross buns, raised beds and birds.............

Good morning, everyone! Remember the bird trying in vain to build a nest on the ladder? It is still trying. There is another huge pile of debris at the bottom of that ladder. It seems to be ignoring my upstairs penthouse for now. Oh well. If it is the same bird from last year, I am assuming that the penny will drop soon. And in the meantime, the sun is trying to shine, and it is also trying to snow. I poked my head out of the door and it is freezing. Ground frozen. Soil frozen. Water anywhere frozen.

Our clocks spring forward this weekend. Tonight. I honestly hate the going forward and back and would just love the time to stay in one place, like it does in South Africa. Even though the country covers a couple of time zones, it stays still. And I am all in favour of British Summer Time being the new standard, and not GMT, even if Greenwich is, you know, right here in England. The Scottish farmers don't like the idea at all. Well, I see no problem in them having their own time zone.

We have visitors coming to stay next week, so I think that maybe I should get on with the making of the free raised bed, which is still decorating the kitchen. I need to get those 240cm lengths of wood out of the house. Never mind the fact that I need lorryloads of soil to fill them. Out is a good start. We can worry about the soil when the ground unfreezes itself.

According to the paper review on TV this morning, we could be entering a 200year cycle of freezing winters - a sort of mini ice age. However, none of us will be around to see if "they" are right. We will all be long gone by then. That leaves them free to expound their theories at length. Clever idea, that.

Unlike me, my daughter-in-law made a batch of hot cross buns yesterday. You can't buy any in Switzerland, so she produced her own. They look amazing, and by all reports, tasted wonderful. My sister would have been thrilled to bits. She LOVES hot cross buns. Me - well, I got mine from M&S because a) I can and b) M&S Food is just around a few corners and c) their luxury ones are the best you can buy. (2 packs for £2. I can afford that kind of luxury.)(Jeana? Remember them?)

Others are lovely, until you taste the  luxury variety and no, M&S are not supplying me with a crate of them for saying so, unfortunately, although that would be wonderful, of course. I live in hope.  In fact, we stopped on the way to town this morning to pick up a couple of extra packs.

Anyway. It is now later, and I have been to pay the bills, and have just finished making the ends for the free raised bed from the pallet. Then Mother had to hold the end of the planks for me to drill the holes. The weather is in a muddle. We have had snow, sleet, sun, greyness, freezing cold and then a variation of the above. This does not inspire one to trundle down to the allotment and assemble it and put it in place. The gaps in the end boards are covered with the plastic from the old cloche cover - there is a new strong one in place - and I have a new roll of weed matting ready as well. Now we just need cardboard and reasonable weather. And soil. The 7 bags could vacate the premises too. But I don't know where the giant welly boots are and I do not want mud everywhere either.

As you can see, we are all mixed up and  dithering, and should probably go and sit in the sun (it is back) and rest the brain cells and massage hand cream into the gardener's hands. Mine. Just in case you were thinking that I had secreted a gardener somewhere.

I need to step away from this keyboard this instant. Or all of you will be in a stupor.