Monday 2rd March

It always amazes me when one day it is still Winter, cold and wet and forbidding, and just as suddenly it is Spring.  And today (yesterday) was just like that.  It was mild, the wind had dropped, the sun was struggling to warm us up – and there were daffodils everywhere.  All along the verges of the roads, in peoples gardens, sometimes planted in neat blocks and sometimes self-seeded and growing wild.

And it feels so different, the mornings are becoming lighter; sunshine streaming through the curtains before seven in the morning.  There is a feeling of hope in the air, and expectation that Summer is just around the corner.

The weather forecast doesn’t look much different, low pressures still swooping in from the Atlantic and rain on the way, but somehow these first indications of Spring lift the spirit.

And the hawthorn bushes are all in flower though hardly any other trees have green leaves, but buds are forming already.   And it all adds up to Spring just around the corner, if not here already.

Last year it felt as if Spring would never arrive, the Winter just dragged on and on, but this year although we have had rain, rain and more rain and awful storms it hasn’t really been that cold.  And so there is an expectation that Spring will come early.  And let’s hope it is correct.