Must be spring after all ...

As the snow in the garden began to melt this morning, after what I think was a pretty perishing night (condensation at the bottom of the bedroom windows!) it was actually possible, just for an hour or so, to think Spring-like thoughts. Then the rain started, and it's been raining ever since. My watch tells me it's 3ºC outside, and the damp cold is even more trying than the cold cold. 

The big news chez nous today was that we defrosted the freezer. It's only an ordinary cupboard-type one, and it sits on my landing because the kitchen is tiny - I'm told that it's not such hard work for the machine because it's not in a warm kitchen, but it can be quite trying charging (!) upstairs when you need the frozen peas. Anyway, defrosting has to happen on the day before I shop, so that the fridge is empty enough to accommodate the more vulnerable frozen items; the rest are stashed in cool bags in my chilly bedroom. The orange light on the freezer has not long gone off - I always find it alarming how long it takes to be cold enough.

We went out only briefly today - I had something to post, so we made a loop from the post box down to the West Bay and along the promenade. We both felt rather ancient - it was one of these days when back and legs just ache with very little effort - or even with none at all. Most depressing.

On a cheerier note, however, three harbingers of the season to remind me that it's mid-March and Spring is really on the calendar: a box of my favourite chocolates in the post from my #2 son who is right now working in Lithuania; the forsythia in the lane which was suddenly golden in the rain; these three daffodils that were yesterday's blip, now all out, photographed with candles. 

Compline (online) this evening, a sudden chance for reflection and, before we started, a moment of laughter, so much so that I found myself saying "shouldn't come to compline for a giggle." But then I thought of banishing the fears and dangers of this night, and thought maybe ok after all ...