Up the Lane

 I walked up the lane close to home last Saturday morning, the wind was freezing, blowing across the open fields from the West.

I saw three people walking, one dog, three people cycling - two normal and one in lycra!  and ......... 

Dandelions

Jack -by -the -hedge

                                                                    White dead nettle

                                                                       Red Dead Nettle

An animal track across the field - maybe fox but probably deer

Pink blossom in the distance

Hawthorn just coming into leaf

Blackthorn blossom finishing

 

That dot is a Buzzard circling- need a better camera for something so high. There were skylarks too - no chance of taking their photographs at all

And all the time the sprayer was going up and down the field - probably with weedkiller- luckily the wind was taking the spray away from where I was walking or I would have needed  a mask. The fields  have wheat or possibly barley growing well, no sugar beet or oil seed rape this year.

View over the village. There will soon be 70 more homes in the area that's cleared, in front of the other houses. Who will buy them is the question. 50% of the houses built two years ago at the other end of the village are still empty. You just need £500,000+ to buy one!

Back Soon

What's Happening in April?

                                                         The first of April, some might say,

                                                              Is set apart for All Fool's Day,

But why people call it so

Nor I nor they themselves do know

                                                      From Poor Richard's Almanack (1760)

April flowers from the 'Illustrated Country Year" by Celia Lewis. From left to right they are Bluebell, Yellow Archangel, Bugle, Forget-me-not, Petty Spurge, Wood Spurge, Ramsons, Cuckoo Flower or Ladys Smock and White Dead Nettle.

April was Aprilis in Roman times derived from aperio to open. Giblean in Scots Gaelic. Apryle in Scots, Aibrean in Irish Gaelic, Averil in Manx and Ebrill in Welsh.

April weather, rain and sunshine both together

April wet, good wheat

April has 30 days, and if it rained on 31 no harm would be done

A dry April is not the farmer's will

April wet is what we should get

Till April's dead, change not a thread.

April full moon tomorrow in the UK - it has many names in the past, the Pink Moon,  Budding Moon, Seed Moon, New Shoots Moon.

The mobile library will be bringing me a nice lot of books - fingers crossed,  then Easter weekend coming up, a very quiet one for me. Easter Events are almost all for families, no fun if alone. The nearest car boot starts as long as we don't get inches of rain, then ED and the two grandsons are coming up from Surrey for a few days as long as they can get fuel for their car OK. One garage here had no diesel at the weekend.

Once they've gone I'll be able to get the windowsill electric propagator out and get seeds started.

Mid month I'll be another year older - all downhill towards 80 then!

On the financial side of things it's always an expensive month with TV Licence, House insurance, birthdays and this year a bill for the boiler repair too.

And before we know it May will be on the horizon.

Back Tomorrow

March Accounts = Spending and More Spending

 Thank you for all the comments on the shopping post. I promise not to do it again - unless I have a shortage of ideas for posts sometime.

This is how March went on the financial front..................Please don't read it if it's too long and boring. 

The bill for the February toilet repair (£222) and the February annual boiler service (£144) appeared in the first week of March. ( The boiler repair bill for the water pressure tap thingy will arrive next month)

 I booked the car in for it's annual service and MOT mid month and to get the clutch checked -something wasn't right with it. The car also needed new brake pads and discs and the guys changed the clutch master cylinder - what ever that is - they said they'd had another car with the same problems a while back but could never get the clutch to play up when they tried it but that car hadn't been back in after doing the cylinder  so with any luck they will have cured it. The total bill was big..... £645!.....heck! Tom told me the cam-belt will need doing next year when the car is 10 years old - oh goody!

No Council Tax again in March, but the letter came about what it will be from April and it's gone up by a whopping £8 a month. It will be £171.86 in April and  £174 for the other 9 months. I get a 25% discount for being alone.

Other direct debits and regular expenses were the usual phones and broadband, charity donations, diesel for the car, monthly electric bill and came to £208.

I had to buy a new wheelbarrow this month, the old one came here from the smallholding via Ipswich very small bungalow and Clay Cottage. BiL had replaced the wheel and repaired the fixings before but it had really come to the end of it's life. I thought a new one would see me out. It's lighter than the old one too and has a puncture proof tyre. I need a wheelbarrow to get compost bags and growbags from the car to the back garden. Apart from that only  garden spending was on the primulas from a boot sale mentioned earlier in the month.

Other spending was for the window cleaner,  a new indoor doormat from Aldi as well as the small bits from boot -sales. Smol laundry and dishwasher tabs (they're now charging for delivery so I may have to abandon them and change to another eco-friendly company.) Bought a booklet of second class stamps - as they are going up again next month. Birthday gifts for sister and son in law and mini easter eggs ready for the Grandchildren's egg hunt. £4 was spent on sunflower hearts for the birds and finally I sent for a new basic TV remote to replace the one that packed up, but can't get it to work, it should work automatically. Luckily I still have the smart remote to use. I'm going to take both remotes to the TV shop in Diss soon as they have a thing that can check if it's the remote or the TV sensor playing up.

Personal  spending was some flowers early in the month, Keep Moving Group, a new Puzzler book, a much needed haircut and 50p on one second hand book and finally I bought myself some new croc type slip on outdoor shoes - but ones without holes all around them - so I can work outside without getting wet feet. I've been meaning to get a pair to replace the ancient crocs  all winter and finally saw some at a sensible price.

Phew - what a month - Outgoings were definitely more than incomings this month! and April will be  nearly as bad.

Any penny savings? Mostly just the usual

• Used apple and pear peel and raspberries that were in the freezer to make compost jelly.
• Handy kitchen bits from boot sale at 50p each
•  Reading library books for free.
• Bread machine used for 50/50 wholemeal white bread and pizza bases and fruit loaf
• Batch making pizza topping 86p + 70p+ 10p = £1.66 ÷ 5 = 33p each
• Bought 2nd class postage stamps before they go up in price again - never use 1st class.
• Dish washer only used every other day
• Checked cheapest local place for diesel for car - keeping it topped up Just In Case.
• Avoided using tumble dryer all month
• No magazines, newspapers etc

Back Tomorrow