The weather is due to warm up at last, which is a jolly good thing. We didn’t get much of a winter, but it’s been dispiritingly chilly with a cutting wind for too much of the spring so far. I’ve suggested to Rose that she gets Boy to fetch the garden furniture out of the barn, ready to sit out in the sunshine. We have two tables and lots of chairs, so we can still follow the rules and be separate, even if we happen to be out at the same time.

Today, Weeza introduced me to planking. I’ve vaguely heard of it but didn’t know what it was. You lie down, supporting the weight of your body by the parts of it that are touching the ground, for as long as you can. The particular programme she linked to was having your toes and elbows on the ground. It suggested building up from 15 seconds on the first day. I got too bored to carry on after a minute, which is a Day 16 ‘achievement’, apparently, so either my core strength is stronger than I think it is or the programme is really kind to the unfit. I then did it on my hands rather than my elbows, again for a minute, but it’s a bit hard on elderly wrists. Still, beats jogging any day.

It puzzles me that frogs seem to have abandoned my pond, as far as spawn-laying is concerned, unless it’s because newts have moved in. Newt tadpoles are a lot more aggressive than frog tadpoles. The eggs are laid singly, so I can’t tell if any are there. When this lovely spring weather arrives, I shall sit by the pond looking for tadpoles, which I love dearly. I have sometimes suspended a small piece of meat on a thread from a stick and dipped it into the water. The hungry tadpoles cluster around it, it’s a good way of feeding them if you’re the sort of person who likes giving amphibians a treat. And, that I can spend hours watching tadpoles shows that I’m not someone who finds staying home much of a problem.