What No Rain? Thursday Jan 10th, 2008

Eventually made it to bed at 5am, having tried a crossword puzzle to get to sleep. Dropped off around 6 I think as it was getting light. Jim slept on the settee again. Can't wait to get back to normal. He'd had a really bad evening and was in a lot of pain again.

However, he has been better today and even cut some willow. He is selling cuttings on ebay as we have to cut the stuff anyway, so why not make a bit? Coaster17 is his name on ebay if you'd like to grow some willow cuttings. As the weather was at last clear with a bit of sunshine now and then, I went down to the orchard to carry on clearing the raspberry canes. The previous owner had obviously planted a couple of rows of them and over the years they have gone wild and cover a huge area. We have never actually stood on the area where they are as it was too prickly and overgrown. The raspberries are rather special in that the are apricot coloured! They taste the same as red ones, very weird.

The raspberries reached over to the fence with the field next door, owned by the farmer, Martin. Down the edge of the fence were many overgrown trees with dead and dying branches. It was great to be able to get to the trees and trim off necessary branches and I actually managed to clear right down to the end of the row before it started to get dark and dropped amazingly cold in a few minutes. My feet and hands were frozen and Jim, right on cue, brought me a coffee, which I used to warm my hands, then gathered up my tools and headed back inside, chilled to the bone.

The evening was spent lolling on the settee in front of the tv until now. I was cold and tired, but really enjoyed my day outside and rest this evening. Jim is still on the mend but seems to have picked up a cold now, probably from the doctor's surgery! You can't win.