Spring

Back from the allotment with dirt under my nails, rhubarb to cook, flowers of wild garlic to put in a vase with bluebells and whatever else I can find in the lane later. Tomorrow we'll put up sticks and strings for the pea plants to grow up, do more weeding, strim the grass and generally tidy up in readiness for the planting, soon, of chard, beetroot, peas, and a second batch of broad beans. The strawberries are flowering profusely, promising mouth-watering treats to come. The potatoes are showing a few inches of growth.

And in the field down the road, two foals, one born yesterday, the other a day or two before. I will take photographs, I promise, before they grow much bigger. Impossibly long legs, a delicate down under the chin.

It's a pretty good time of the year to need extended time off sick.