In the garden

A wet, grey and windswept morning - but then the skies cleared after lunch. We began the day with a WhatsApp video call with Ruth, Josh, Eben and Luca: the boys made us all laugh with some very athletic "yoga" moves of their own devising. They're all looking well, and cheerful.

I spent  lot of the morning editing photos for a Zoom talk I'm due to give to a friend's camera club in about 10 days' time. It's about the ArtUK volunteer photography work I've done intermittently over the last two years, so there's no shortage of material to choose from.  But I'm keen to have it finished in time for a rehearsal or two before the due date.

After that, I really needed some outdoor time. I spent a very contented hour and a half or so in the garden, having a look around and doing some minor pruning of shrubs and fruit trees. Quite a few plants are flowering: the viburnum, winter honeysuckle, witch hazel and hellebores in the front; more violas, rosemary, cyclamen and a few snowdrops in the back.  So far, none of the pots of bulbs I planted late in the autumn are showing any green shoots... I think the squirrels may have got to them, despite all the netting and the hot chilli spray I used. We'll see.

Still no Sue Gray report. More speculation about the role of the Met Police, first in delaying any investigation of their own and now being perceived as trying to dilute or delay Sue Gray's report. Murky waters; more than murky.