2021 diary

Nothing much to report today. Spent the morning on trivialites and the afternoon chatting to Margaret on the phone, mainly about gardening. After about an hour we decided we should be doing some rather than talking about it so said goodbye. It was a chilly day and windy but with some sun so I did a little out the window photography first then wrapped up warm, went out and got to work. Cleared out all the lamium I could find and pulled out a bit more ivy. Found a fair sized patch of docken in my wild border and guiltily scooshed it with weed killer. Decided a small shrub had died and got rid of it. The jury is still out on a second one. Came in feeling cold but well pleased with the progress I'd made, Even found the energy to go for a short walk before it got dark.

Ups and downs today. Mainly ups, the downs being passing irritations. I had a lazy morning and decided not to bother with my "to do" list. I had been going to to find coltsfoot and look for green hairstreak butterflies. It was cloudy though with a chill wind. Noticed that the fritillaries I had picked yesterday had opened in the warmth of the house. So I spent a happy time photographing and processing Soon after nightgowns and underwear were delivered. Where I'd ordered two items only one had arrived . Just a little niggle which I left alone. Velcro ties had arrived too. I'd searched everywhere and couldn't find ones I had so I'd bought more. Began to sort out the flex on my new vacuum. It's so long it will just be a nuisance. Had a quick downstairs hoover with it first. It's a pleasure to use but sorting out the cable was a fankle and I couldn't open the dust container. I'll have to consult the instruction leaflet. Niggle number two. Put the Velcro ties away and found the ones I couldn't find before. Number three. Decided I would treat myself to some autumn/winter cyclamen for the garden and had an enjoyable time making choices. Got to the credit card stage when the phone rang. It was Julie to make an appointment for cutting my hair. It's not happening until May but it's nice to have a date. Time passed chatting before I got back to my credit card. Payment seemed to go through OK but then I got a message saying "your basket is empty." No e-mail to confirm the order. Had it gone through or not ? Number four. . Decided to let some time pass and went into the garden to do more clearing up. I was hungry and the wind was chilly but I got engrossed and Beaky came to keep me company. Stuck a great thorn into my thumb and bled like a pig. Number five. Came in, did some first aid, phoned and found all was well with the cyclamen but discovered I'd missed a call from Margaret. Number six. Made tea and toast with bramble jelly and realised I'd completed most of my "to do" list unawares. Going to have duck for dinner !

We're being lucky with the sunshine and I'm a bit annoyed at myself for not being out in it. It's been a day where I've faffed around doing odds and ends that have been overlooked. I was enjoying it until I tackled the printer I bought some time ago. Before Christmas I think. I'd sorted it out at the time except for dealing with the WiFi so it and the computer could talk to each other. Got to grips with that today but it was irritating. The instructions weren't always clear and there was some trial and error. And it took a while. Messages saying "This process may take some time." I kept thinking of Oates leaving the tent and saying "I am just going outside and may be gone some time." However, eventually the two were talking and I restarted the computer as that always seems a good idea. Not this time. The cursor on the mouse vanished. Fished out another mouse but the same result. At that point I gave up. Went into the garden, chatted to Emma and Courtney, waved to Emma's parents who were visiting and having tea at the top of the garden and took some photos. Once inside I had tea as well, lying on the sofa comfort reading an old detective story. After a while I went back to the computer and switched off the printer. The cursor reappeared. Did some processing and decided to post my blip and investigate later. I have a feeling it may well be some time before I do so.

Goodness knows what I did with today. Watered the violets. Did crosswords and read the news. Nicola Sturgeon being bad mouthed by all and sundry. They are all terrified of the May elections by the sound of things and may be hoping to pick up a few Tory or Labour seats. Doesn't seem likely to me. Changed the bed and towels, cleaned the wet wall and set the washing machine in action. My new stair vacuum arrived and I think is going to be a great success. Easy to assemble and to get to the right height for stairs. It's so light they got hoovered again in no time. Don't think they've ever been hoovered two days in a row and they never will be again. Must be in the mood to spend as I used up the last of my clothes budget on a couple of nightdresses and a pair of garden shoes. Both current items are distinctly ragged old woman so I've spruced myself up a bit. Finally realised I'd run out of milk so went up to the Pillars, bought one or two items and then went to Strath to walk in the community woodland. Met an old acquaintance and had a nice chat. Vaccines seem to be the main subject at the moment with everyone. I was hoping there might be some blackthorn but not yet so I looked for faces in the trees.

In the novel "The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy" a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7 1⁄2 million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. Deep Thought points out that the answer seems meaningless because the beings who instructed it never knew what the question was. When asked to produce the Ultimate Question, Deep Thought says that it cannot; however, it can help to design an even more powerful computer that can. This new computer will incorporate living beings into the "computational matrix" and will run for ten million years. The computer is revealed as being the planet Earth, with its pan-dimensional creators assuming the form of white lab mice to observe its running. I've always fancied a house sign incorporating white mice and have at last achieved it. I'll have to replace the violets with petunias when they go over. Spent most of the day in the garden reducing the quantity of ivy and, in my rest periods, buying new underwear and a lightweight stick hoover in the hope my stairs will get vacuumed a bit more often.

Yet more warm sunshine. It's been lovely. I notice Beaky is eating the mealy worms before any starlings appear and after him a jackdaw arrives. None left for the starlings this morning. I think I'll have to put out a second helping if they don't start coming earlier. I hoovered the stairs directly after breakfast as they where very grubby and I can't remember when I last did them. They have been preying on my mind and making me feel guilty for some time. Spent a lot of time in the garden getting rid of more lamium. It will be a never ending job I fear but there is some silver lamium I want to keep. Was so engrossed I nearly forgot about the trip to the recycling then set off without my gardening gloves and had to go back. I couldn't have moved all that thorny stuff without them. Great to see it go but there's still forsythia to be chopped. Afterwards I went back up the road to Creich to photograph trees I saw yesterday. I photographed them years ago but had forgotten about them. Was lucky with the clouds. Carried on over the hills to the Tay and Newburgh. Everything was looking its best. Lots of people out at Newburgh so I didn't walk. Passed Birnie on the way home. It was packed with cars. Stopped at Heatherhall Woods which was full of dog walkers as usual. I walked along to a field to photograph the cloud formations over East Lomond so I got peace and quiet. Sadly the photos were full of flare in spite of a lens hood but it didn't matter. It was a lovely day.

Another mild sunny day which I have rather wasted by setting Roomba in action upstairs, doing my usual Wednesday kitchen clean and taking delivery of groceries. My most exciting activity was cutting my hair. I was putting it off hoping that hairdressers would be working again soon but I think it's still a few weeks away so I bit the bullet. A bit raggy and shaggy but much better. My outdoor activity was bundling prickly branches of shrub roses into the back of the car. Even managed to fit in the forsythia prunings. More forsythia to go and a lot of periwinkle to be cleared out. Then I'll get a garden team I've used before to take out the shrub roots. Photographed my withered tulips for the last time. Now the sun is pretty well set I'm going to walk round the block just to take myself out of the house for a little bit. If there's any sun tomorrow I must get out again with the camera.

Well the sun shone as promised so a lovely day. The shrub roses got chopped down first thing plus a bit of the forsythia. Will it all go in the car ? I'll find out tomorrow. Had a little rest then dusted downstairs listening to Eric Clapton. Don't think I'm so keen on him as I was. I prefer B.B. King. Had another rest then went off photographing leaving Roomba to get on with downstairs hoovering. The trouble with a lovely day is that everyone else goes out too especially as it was really mild. I had peace at Creich Castle(see below) and found a new road with a view I really liked then drove on to Wormit and the Tay rail bridge. A dead end road goes down under it and gives nice views. Lots of cars and although there was a space I came away. Smiled to see a guy with a tripod photographing just at the bridge. Balmerino was the next stop but no photos. Lots of cars outside the Abbey ruins so I gave them a miss and walked along the shore. Quite a few people there too. I don't blame them but I remembered it as always quiet. It was all enjoyable though and I went home via the road with a view which I had all to myself. Saw another couple of promising shots so I'll be back.

We're being lucky with the weather just now although it is cold so I've made that the excuse to abandon housework. Spent a lot of time in the front garden today clearing up moss and dead leaves and grass etc. A lot more chopping down to do. It's a small patch so I'm getting rid of things. Some shrub roses are going. They are nice but not nice enough and every bit of rubbish flying round ends up trapped in my crowded patch. I'm too old now to continually clear it up. It can fly on somewhere else. I'm planning to leave a coppiced rowan and perhaps a forsythia and the rest will be bulbs and annuals. There are crocuses just now but they are past their best. It's the same in the back garden so I had a last photograph. Soon more daffodils will be out and I can see tiny gleams of blue from scilla. Went round to the estate for a walk. I haven't been for a while it was so busy. Today was better. Came back and booked a recycling slot for Thursday so I'll have to get the loppers out and get to work. Tried to renew my car insurance online but gave up. It told me to enter my name exactly as it appeared on the card and then wouldn't accept that it was correct. There was a long queue to phone and I couldn't be bothered.