More Bad Weather and a Trip to Sheffield

Well, at the start of last week, the weather was still battering us unmercifully here in deepest darkest Cornwall. The wind and the rain were pretty much non-stop and have been for the last couple of weeks and quite frankly, I'm getting a bit fed up of being wet and windswept, not to mention being in a constant fret about the house and the animals and reluctantly, on Tuesday of last week, I made a mad dash to Sheffield. Not that I don't love going home to Sheffield to see my mum and my eldest daughter and her husband but I do get kind of nervous leaving my youngest daughter to deal with all the potential problems that the weather could bring. Not that she's a child, she's almost 21 but I guess I always assume that no one can do things the way that I do them. The problem was my car. The exhaust fell off about 3 weeks ago and the tax expired and basically, it is no longer fit to drive. It would most certainly not get through an MOT without massive amounts of cash being spent on it and quite frankly ....... it's a horrible car! It was always meant to be a stop-gap car, bought when my lovely old Pajero blew it's head gasket and I couldn't afford to get it fixed but the time had come for me to sort out something different. Before my dad sadly passed away in September last year, he told me that he wanted me to have his car so on Tuesday, I hopped on a train and went to pick it up.

The countryside was in a sorry state. Flooded fields everywhere, massively high tides as we trundled past Dawlish and the only things that seemed to be enjoying the weather were the hundreds and hundreds of birds that were splashing about in the flooded fields. I have never seen so many birds! Swans, Canada Geese, little black and white sea bird that I have no idea what they were, all having a whale of a time in the newly created lakes.

On Wednesday, I made the 357 mile drive back from Sheffield to Cornwall so I could be back in time for the market in Thursday. It's a real shame that I couldn't stay a few extra days but I'm hoping to go back up there for a few days in a month or so. It's lovely to see my mum and my daughter and there are loads of lovely shops ..... not that I actually go shopping a lot but there are lots of lovely vintage shops and junk shops for me to spend hour rummaging through ....... bliss :-)

Today is a miserable Sunday. It's cold and grey and is definitely a day for sitting in front of the fire flicking through seed catalogues and planning what I am going to do with my garden this year now that the Nasty Neighbours have gone. As I mentioned in my last post, I have started a greenhouse fund. I have found a cute little wooden greenhouse in Argos and I am hoping to have saved enough to buy it by the end of March. I intend to paint it. Not pink, as everyone who knows me assumes it will be, but maybe pale green or a lovely duck-egg blue. I haven't decided yet. This is the one that I'm hoping to get so watch this space :-)