The time has come

... to make a few changes in the front garden as I'm struggling to manage it now.  

I failed to cut the creeper back during the winter so it's engulfing everything and I barely had any light through the small window.  It wasn't that easy as the shrub and its enclosed rose had to be dealt with first so I could get to it.  You can see there are still stragglers near the window but I think the window cleaner will pull those down for me the next time he comes.

Anyway it prompted a re-think for me.  The Lonicera bush was planted before we bought the house next door and over the years it's got bigger and bigger.  It now serves no useful purpose apart from it's popular with blackbirds for nesting. I ended up looking round for other things to cull . Next in line is a grafted pussy willow which is dwrarfing its spindly stem.  There there is some trimming to be done, so I think there is a couple of hours work for someone - so I need to find a gardening firm to do it.

I picked up another dead blue-tit below the other window.  I think they see the reflection and think it's somewhere they can fly through.  There have been a lot of thuds and bumps recently.

The Coroners Office rang back just before lunch with the results of the post-mortem.  Phil's heart was in a very bad state.  Her message was that he wouldn't have known what was happening it would have been instantaneous.  

p.s. my favourite photo from the day was a thistle in the front garden.