All the lovely flowering saplings in the top left of this photo have now gone. Such a shame...

Sunday: We had some much appreciated sunshine here and some laundry was quickly hung from the rigging. It’s been ages since I was able to wash, air dry, and iron a load on the same day. It was warm standing in the sunshine, briefly, though cold enough to remind us that’s it’s still early March. A little later, I popped out for some groceries. I talk to myself; I know I do it, and invariably I’m going through what I need to do/buy as it helps me to concentrate. Well, I’m chattering away to myself when this woman in front of me turned and said, in a very aggressive manner: what was that? I explained I was talking to myself; she gave me a ‘look’ and walked on. Honestly, I wasn’t talking about her or to her, simply going over my list. This is the second time recently that somebody has assumed me talking to myself was a comment about them, and has either glared at me, or challenged me. Note to self: keep your mouth shut before somebody does me in! The sunshine was a welcome sight Sunday though clear skies made for a frosty night and I had the worst sleep. I doubt I slept 5 hours in total; I was perished!

Monday: We awoke to a heavy frost that took me fully ten minutes to clear from the car. The dog and I had an early ‘escape’ as he was due a session at the groomers: bath and brush, paw tidy, teeth cleaned, ears cleaned, and a nail clipping to boot. He’s now 12 and has never had his nails clipped before. Where we used to live there was very little grass to walk on, so his nails were kept short by walks on the pavement with the odd foray onto a grassy verge. Here, there’s lots of grassy places and wooded areas to walk him, add to that his age, and mine, and he’s walking less so his nails haven’t been getting ground down so much. Whilst he was enjoying a bath lol, I retired to the supermarket, bought a few items, then sat in the café with a coffee, newspaper, and a small cooked breakfast. My son doesn’t like this kind of food much anymore, and it’s a lot of effort for one person, so this was a nice treat for me. Not too loud, not too busy; great. When I collected the dog, he was obviously tired and couldn’t find his feet. He kept sprawling on the shiny floor and the groomer said she’d never seen a dog ‘starfish’ like that before. She picked him up – brave girl, he weighs 23kg (about 4 stone) – and carried him outside the store where he managed to stand upright on the concrete. Very kind of her; I doubt I could have done it. He spent the rest of the morning in his bed, whining. Tired old dog.

Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet, aside from a man with a chainsaw laying waste to the saplings in the garden that butts onto ours. We can now see the derelict buildings in the town and the top of the d*mn circus tent. Deep joy.

Thursday, I returned from dropping off my son, to find that some ignorant s*d had removed my bin from the kerb and had parked in ‘my’ spot. He was parked well onto the pavement, and I noted later, when I went to collect my son, that the offending car had a big scratch along it, like the one I gained on my car not long after moving in. No sympathy from me; people aren’t supposed to park here unless they’re residents or delivering to residents. In fact, since the signs went up, the parking here has been even worse; nice to see the council/police doing their job, said she sarcastically.

Friday, I had an interview at one of the big supermarkets. It was a one on one interview, as opposed to a group one and seemed to go well; I was in there half an hour, so better than some that only took 10 minutes - those ones I didn’t get. The manager is on leave for more than a week, so I probably won’t know until towards the end of the month if I’ve been successful. Fingers crossed… On my return, another ignorant s*d had moved my bin and parked in my space, and again, I had to park down the bottom of the street. I noticed today that 2 more cars had been 'keyed'. These could be old scratches, obviously, or somebody trying to deter the flagrant parking here. I’ve since emailed the county council asking if they’re going to enforce these new parking restrictions; if not, it’s a waste of the new signs. Another sunny day, and another load of laundry dried on the rigging.

Hoping for more sunny days. Have a great weekend.