I was excitedly ready to watch a Zoom lecture on the geology and fossils of Norfolk, organised by Norwich museum. Unfortunately, I was a week out. But hey, something to look forward to.

Cold, sunny days with wintry showers and frosty nights here. Not much of a spring, so far. Tender plants have caught the frost in the greenhouse, probably more because of the early morning sun than the overnight cold. I’m not going to grow much this year. Last year, I’d been intending to have a fallow year and to spend it getting on top of the bindweed, but Roses and her fella persuaded me otherwise, because they were keen to grow veggies. Then he discovered how much work was involved and rather went off the idea and then the chickens ate most of the veggies anyway. So I’m back to plan A and I’m going for the easy life, at least for the time being. I know I’m going to have to let the chickens out as soon as it’s reliably warm, but I’m putting it off as long as possible because I don’t want chicks and there are four broody-ish hens at present. If I let them out, I’ll have two dozen chicks within a month. It really is a quandary – I love having the chickens all around the place, but it will make far more sense to enclose an area for them. Never mind, I’ll come to a conclusion at some point.

The good news is that I’ve had a brainwave for Tim’s birthday present and have set the wheels in motion. He has no idea, it’s unguessable. Hah.

Otherwise, please permit me a short rant about banks. A couple of weeks ago, I had a dental appointment in Norwich. Lockdown was still in place, so I hadn’t visited Norwich for a necessary banking thing, but I’d be within a few hundred yards so I felt it was justifiable. I checked on the bank’s website and the branch was open until 5. I arrived at 4pm, to find a note on the door saying it closed at 3 nowadays. The morons hadn’t updated their website in many months. This was the NatWest. Today, I drove Tim to his second vaccination appointment and wanted to visit a different bank – Lloyds – on the way back. I checked the website. The Beccles branch is open from 9-5. Having parked quite some way away and walked there, arriving at 9.15, no it bloody isn’t. It opens at 10. You would not think that it’s beyond the intelligence of someone to alter the damn website, would you? These are both things that cannot be done online. I loath banks and do all I can on an internet-only bank, because at least it doesn’t mislead you.

There we are, that’s all the ranting and I’m back to cheerful Z. Not that I have anything much to talk about. Nothing happens any more. We did have a telephone (landline) problem, but Sam sorted it out for us. Wink is now 6 years older than me, for the next 5 months. My daughter and son-in-law have had their first vaccinations. I have given away 66 eggs this week and still have three dozen left. I’m quite happy, on the whole.