What? Spring already?

There are two reasons this blog has been quiet since 7 January, both of which are pretty dull: one, I’m heavily into writing the next novel, over halfway, in fact, which means everything and everyone tends to get a bit neglected at this point in the process (just ask Mrs James – er, on second thoughts, maybe don’t); and two, this year’s winter has also been dull. If we get a nice cold snap and a blue sky, I can post pictures of how great the scenery looks. But since January, it’s almost been like a British winter here in Warsaw: cold, wet and humid with the occasional frost and nothing to look at but a back garden that clearly needs a lot of work.

And if you’re wondering about those gorgeous five chicks Mrs James and Eldest Daughter raised last autumn, the news is also dull: out of the five, three transpired to be cocks. We’ve eaten two of them and the third is plucked and chopped and currently residing in my freezer waiting to become another Sunday lunch. One of the two remaining hens fell ill and also had to be dispatched. I assumed that you would not have appreciated a post showing my axe doing the deeds and Mrs James all a-plucking and a-gutting

On the upside, the crocuses came out last week, and they looked rather nice.