I feel I must apologise for last night’s sentimental outburst. There is no real excuse for it, but the night was so lovely, and, a little bit of soppiness (within reason, of course) never did anyone any harm – yet.

Not much to report so far today.  The day started cold and frosty with ice on the ponds.  This quickly disappeared as the wind got up and it is now raining hard – again.

The rooks have started fiddling about with their old nests in the rookery.  Mark Cocker in his book ‘Crow Country’ says that they dismantle the nests each year and start again.  I am not sure about that, though I am no expert.  The rooks pair for life but they still feel the need to court each other again each year – bowing and nodding and lifting the feathers on the back of their necks.  Human couples, in the main, don’t seem to continue to woo each other after they have decided to get married/live together.  Perhaps they should (I don’t mean bowing and nodding etc. – they’d get funny looks from passers-by) but perhaps try to remember what it was that attracted them about their partner in the beginning/make an effort to listen to each other or spend more time together/try not to take each other for granted – I’m sure you can think of lots more.  (What has got into me?! It must be Valentine’s Day!)  R and I decided some years ago to forego sending each other cards and giving presents on this day (at my instigation if I remember rightly) and what a relief it was not to have to sort through hundreds of simply awful cards trying to find something appropriate to us and our marriage.  We ended up with cards with no message and scenic views or gardens or flowers on the front and then wrote our own rather restrained messages.  I’m not usually a sentimental person (last night was an aberration) and I found it an uncomfortable experience.  It all seemed very silly.  As a girl I would have loved to have received a card from an unknown admirer but as a middle-aged woman….. No, ridiculous!

The geese don’t have the big pond to themselves any more.  The moorhens are very busy, paddling about doing moorhenny things and a group of five male mallards have arrived.  They are stalking one lone female – waiting for their chance!

Lunch break over – I must get back to the ironing and then I’m off to Diss to pick A up from the station.  She is coming home for a long weekend and I am looking forward to it very much.