10th April 2011

10th April 2011.

Dear All,

Not too much to report this week as U3A is on Easter holidays and the weather has encouraged a lot of time in the garden. We marked out the cricket square which is looking good at present but we have actually watered it in March which is a record. I have planted late potatoes, cabbage, cauliflowers, beetroot, lettuce and sweet peas, sowed sugar peas, parsnips, beetroot and French beans and pricked out flowers and tomatoes.

Spring flowers

Our Thursday outing proved exciting – as I had a Garden Club talk in the evening I opted for 7 miles instead of 10 as sometimes I do not feel too frisky after the long walks. However our leader missed a turn, so we added a couple of miles then we encountered two old gentlemen in distress. One had lost his balance and could not walk straight; he had a bad back, an arrhythmic heart and looked pale and dreadful. One of our party stopped to help them while I hurried to the next village to find his wife with a car waiting for them in a pub. That added another 2 to 3 miles as it was in the wrong direction, so I ended up doing about 12 miles! Bluebells were showing colour and we heard a cuckoo for the first time this year. Anyway it was an excellent shirt sleeved walk starting from Ardeley south of Royston via Cottered and Wood End.

Near Ardeley

I have put some more time in on talks for Moldova and John has finally replaced his passport. Tozers have sent us some “Caliente” mustard to try out as a form of natural biofumigation. I watched Over play a not very trilling 0 v 0 match in the sunshine yesterday – “the only winner was the hard pitch Brian” and in the evening we went to a Bangladeshi and Indian Restaurant at Bourn with the Colquhouns We have booked tickets for “Warhorse” as part of our 40th wedding celebrations in May and tried for some Olympic tickets but are holding our breath yet! We have been to lunch at Sutton with the Fosters and the visiting preacher David Steere – Kate is continuing to improve and looked better than for sometime. They have serious subsidence in their house and are adapting the office to live in while the front of the house is underpinned. I spoke to Tom Webster yesterday, he is at home and walking to the beach twice a day with his new leg. He was talking about visiting Skye next month and trying to get some way up the Cobbler in August – so just what you would expect!

Tom with Molly & Jock from Cambridge + neice

love

Mike & Kate