A dreich week but the heather doesn't care

I have always wanted to use the word dreich. It instantly describes the feeling of February when the sun hasn’t shone for a few days and the crisp cold has gone and the damp has settled. The last few days has been just that, there is no dressing it up otherwise.

On Saturday we awoke to a sprinkling of snow, (well you could just about call it that), and we had a brief crack in the gloom on Monday but it soon went back to normal.

But February is that magic time of the year – Valentine’s day.

Not just for the reasons that you might expect – although it is nice when you get your annual smile from your better half!

Valentine’s day is when the garden is supposed to really start growing.

The pictures dotted about this blog are an attempt to justify this statement. We actually have colours again in the garden almost overnight.

In Slovenia it is even celebrated as such. I don’t mean the odd bulb sprouting, I mean the plants really starting to grow. The trees starting to wake up in readiness to burst open with blossom and the wildlife starts making plans for the year and agreeing on their holiday schedule.

Sadly, this also includes the weeds, as we discovered recently when we cut back all the stinging nettle corpses that litter one end of the garden. Underneath were the new ones waiting to launch another march on summer.

Our first daffodils for Valentine's day

But Valentine’s day is special for other reasons too.

The front door gets blocked by all the cards that get posted through the letter box. A pile forms in the porch if you let it and the postman’s sack gets even fuller than normal.

Eagerly I look at the pile of post with an expectant air. Sorting the post by sender so as not to miss anything.

Will I be able to find a valentine’s day card amongst all the cards offering their establishment for my celebration of love?

It is amazing how much crap comes through the door and how much money people spend on what has become a most commercial of celebrations. Lots of barely credible restaurants suddenly feel the urge to cash in on the goodwill of people looking for a special evening and with more money than usual to splash on a meal for their loved one.

The addition of a heart shaped balloon or a few red rose petals is supposed to make the food palatable and the environment alluring. (Ooh that’s sounds cynical!).

This year we tried one such establishment and fell into just such a trap, (more fool you, I hear you say).

I looked for the top 10 restaurants locally and it pointed me towards a pub in the middle of nowhere. Perfect – I thought. The expectation built as I surprised my wife with somewhere we had never been. A new place to take friends, a secret establishment in the wilds of Somerset.

Well we haven’t been there for good reason. There were many good intentions. It was a brilliant location. But fundamentally chicken is supposed to be edible and sadly it wasn’t. Thankfully I ordered the beef!

There is no way back from a poor meal on Valentine’s day for your other half! It has the charm of a smelly fart in an enclosed car. You wish you could have avoided it, but now that you haven’t it puts a damp feeling on your mood. It is no one’s fault, but you can’t pretend it is great when it isn’t.

We still enjoyed the evening, especially the thick fog that had settled on the road home so that we couldn’t see anything except the cats’ eyes in the middle of the road and steadfastly fixed our eyes on these in order that we didn’t stray off the road.

Just to add insult to injury we arrived home early to find we had not taped our favourite programme which was now nearly finished so we were forced to go to bed early and talk.

Roll on next year and a new place to try!

Witch hazel - a new addition to the garden

I did however hear of someone who has taken Valentine’s day presents to a new level.

33 years ago a special someone made their way to their favourite valentine to deliver them a card and present. It was snowing and the weather was awful but they got there just the same.

They have subsequently married and have three kids and grown old together.

The valentine in question kept the present and card and recently showed it to their loving other half. A Valentine’s day card from 1984 and a Rolo (the last one from a packet). It looked a bit fingered but it was still recognisable.

I just hope they don’t make the ultimate sacrifice after all these years and eat it!

Even taller than last week

I mentioned last week that our Xmas Amaryllis was growing healthily about a couple of inches a day and was almost ready to burst out. My wife’s nickname for it is probably not too hard to guess as it is particularly phallic.

Well it has moved on – it has grown a little larger but more importantly the pod has split and the flower is visible.

Next week we will see the true majesty of the full bloom.

Mole hills everywhere

If you have read this blog before then you probably are sick to death of mole stories. I want to publish this one last picture as it demonstrates that I am not the only one. When it snowed on Saturday the only place it really settled was on the mole hills. See the picture opposite of the roadside near us.

Fresh growth

Jasper Carrot was just like his old self. He is now 71 so he looks a little different, but his voice is recognisable anywhere.

He still does the insurance claims jokes, if you can remember that, although there are one or two new ones he has found. The audience were mostly from his original era so we felt relatively young and spritely, not a feeling we have too often any more.

But he is worth seeing if you want a swear word free giggle.

We also saw Hacksaw Ridge which is a true story. I won’t spoil it but it is a bit like Saving Private Ryan action-wise with a bit of a love story thrown in. Bear with the schmaltzy beginning. Needless to say my better half hated it!

The buds start popping on the quince

I’m away again this week at the time I normally write this so I have had to do it in advance. A quiz was just too much to do in the time available so the next one will be next week.

Have a great weekend!

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