brrrrrr!

I’m so glad I took my own advice and picked up that compost the other day, because the last couple of days have seen a deluge of snow (or what passes for a deluge round here anyway).

Yesterday I donned wellies and woolies and valiantly made my way to the library (ten minutes walk) where I spent a happy hour idly browsing and reading the local paper (which reminded me I must get back to the community farm some time soon). I came home with seven books, a dvd, and an earnest desire to stay inside the house for the rest of the day.

We’re waiting for a parcel so I stationed myself by the kitchen window, which has a good view of the street. Our house is numbered in a slightly confusing way and we often get post for neighbours (at the same time as our own – surely the postman notices he’s putting things for two completely different addresses into the same letterbox?) so it’s as well to stay vigilant and on the look out for baffled-looking delivery drivers.

The view from our kitchen window isn’t dramatic, but I like it. There are no hills, no sea, no distant view of the city, no fields. All I can see is a tiny bit of our garden, and the houses on the other side of the street. Still, the top of the compost bin shows me how much it’s been snowing (quite a bit), there’s always plenty of bird action in the lilac, and since it’s a quiet street, there are usually neighbours passing and children playing, and hardly any traffic.

Yesterday I sat there for about eight hours, only moving to refill the kettle, and read almost 300 pages of Monty Don’s The Ivington Diaries, which just made me want to get outside and potter in the garden.

All enthused, I pulled on wellies and headed outside to rescue the loo rolls I’d filled with compost the other day from the cold frame.

Sadly, that was as far as I got. The compost had settled and more needed adding, but it was just so cold that I couldn’t bear the thought of staying outside for long enough to do it, so I just carried the trays inside ‘to let the compost warm up’ (can’t have those poor little seeds getting cold feet after all…).

Last night we walked an hour through the snow to a friend’s house, and an hour back again at two o’clock this morning, so I felt quite justified staying in bed til lunchtime. Now I’m up, I’m back on Parcel Duty by the kitchen window (although we’ve had no normal post for two days now so I’m not holding my breath).

Still, a nice excuse to watch the snowball fights and finish my book.

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