A field I own near here, down by the river, has got a little island on it – this is less exciting than it sounds, it’s just a little dyke going round a small area of the field. There are trees on it, which have been neglected for years. Back in the day, there was a plank bridge and we used to take the children for picnics, but it got too overgrown. There’s mostly willow and alder, both alive, though one alder is leaning badly, and dead and a lot of branches have dropped into the dyke, nettles and brambles have grown up, it’s a mess. I want to keep the bird and wildlife-friendly aspects of it and I don’t mind leaving logs and so on, but it does need tidying. So that’ll be done this month. I texted Weeza last night, saying I’ve got lots of dry wood, enough for years, without the additional stuff that’s coming. So I’m going over at the weekend with a carbootful of logs and, when they come here, they’ll load up the car in their turn.

However light a touch one wants to use on the land, it does need care. Nettles are valuable food for bugs, but too many of them choke out more delicate wild plants. There used to be rampant bamboo on the island at one time, but it died out eventually – I have a feeling that bamboo dies after it’s flowered, or am I making that up? Can’t quite be bothered to check at nearly 11pm. I’ll look in the morning.

I’ll have to get a move on tomorrow, in fact. I want to order some coal, ready to pick up so that Wince can unload it for me, help him bring in logs and coal for the fires and then I’m going over to visit Roses for coffee before we go out to lunch. She lives a bit further away now, though it doesn’t take much more than half an hour.

I’m finding it hard to get motivated and have an awful tendency to sit and stare into space at times. I need to make a list of jobs, to force myself to get going. Though right now, the reason for me sitting still is a cat on my lap, leaning on my right arm. i’m typing left-handed.