What file extension are you?

Which File Extension are You?

[Now playing — Us and Them The Easy Star All Stars (off Dub side of the Moon)]

Tired

I am heartily sick of the building works and the time it is taking. And the fact that if I wanted a job done incompetently, I could do it myself.

And the fact that when I went out for a hearty meal to console myself, it became overeating and full-gut ache. Where have life's simple pleasures all gone?

[Later — It turned out to be a stomach upset of some sort, that left me flat on my back for a couple of days, except when having to charge downstairs to the one functioning loo…]

Nature notes

Noticed the dawn chorus this morning, for the first time this year.

Still no spring

The snowdrops are setting seed now, but there is still no sign of activity on the forsythia nor in the pond. Cold raw north-easterly winds under a leaden sky made cycling into town most unpleasant today. Even the brief sun in the early afternoon wasn't enough to make any difference.

[Now playing - Planet Rock]

In other news…

I hope bad things do indeed come in threes. We discovered this week that the young guy doing the bricklaying to adjust the old kitchen had managed to

1. put the frame for the new side door one course of bricks too high
2. make a portrait format hole for a landscape format window
3. build a new wall about a foot away from where it should have been (not measuring, and so not noticing that an archway was also being adjusted, and tying it to the old position, not the new.

*sigh*

4 weeks of bedsit life so far, and at least another couple I would expect before we can even have a pro tem kitchen. This is getting very old very fast.

[Now playing - Planet Rock]

Milestones

Two years, 12757 miles (6166 this year). And a first puncture. I thought I heard something odd as I parked last night — and in the morning, the right rear tyre was flat as a tack. Mainly because of a discarded nail from the building works. At least the home-start insurance covered the transport to the dealer to get a new tyre.

[Now playing - Planet Rock]

Where is the spring?

A year ago, I was saying that snowdrops were well past their best. Now they are just starting to decline. The later crocuses are now out, but so far no sign of life from the forsythia, and only one solitary frog seen in the pond.

It didn't actually snow over the weekend here, though it had been forecast, and did happen further north. And snow is being forecast for later this week.

Distributed living

While the building work goes on, and Karen is staying with friends, I'm racking up more mileage. Over 200 miles a week as opposed to around 100.

Milestones

12,500 in the car-park today

Hints of spring

A bright sunny weekend without quite such a strong wind as last. it was comfortable to walk around town in T-shirt and jeans yesterday, but still cold when out in the fields. Inch thick ice still on ponds around the recreation ground, though bubblewrap has done its job in the garden.

But with the crocuses long out, and the warm sun, spring is clearly waiting just around the corner.