A smashing daffodil day

What a difference, but I suppose we've had no winter at all (so far, it's not too late). It's been warm, not mild but actually warm with sunshine too. 
I need to get a new bag of sunflower hearts, between the birds and the squirrels they don't last long in the feeders.
As the feeders were empty, apart from the one with peanuts, I took a load of peanuts, smashed them with the mallet, gently though as I didn't want peanut dust, and mixed them with some suet from a packet in the cupboard (don't tell Marlane HAHAHAHAHA).
Marlanes sister arrived this afternoon from Holland and I took the opportunity, while they occupied Betty, to take Jonty for a walk. The little daffodils are out in the park, a sure sign of spring.
Wish the Ukranians had some joy in their lives, not a lot of it around at the moment I expect.
I spent two weeks in Ukraine, a day arriving and another day departing, in Kyiv. The rest of the two weeks was spent in Comsomolsk with the GOK Mining Company teaching their telecomms engineers how to install the Nortel Networks digital Option 11 Telephone system and programme the software features. They were very smart people, and so hospitable. I really do feel very sorry for their current plight.
Photo of my two bodyguards are in the Extra Photos.
Alexei and Tomas, really lovely blokes who escorted me everywhere, day and night, apart from when I was teaching so they could have some time to themselves. In Comsomolsk there are no hotels so I was accommodated in the retirement home for former GOK employees. They really look after their retired people. There is also a gang culture there and, as I was the only foreigner in the town, I stood out like a sore thumb. That would mean I had dollars in my pocket so I was a very high level target. As long as Tomas and Alexei were with me they wouldn't try to duff me up!
In the other extra you can see a small extent of the open cast mine, 7km long, 1km deep, it was MASSIVE!
Talking of winter, I was there in January, 1996. Winter there means -20c during the day! On the last night it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. I went to bed with a couple of inches of snow on the ground, woke up with at least half a metre. And still van drove from Comsomolsk to Kyiv (about 300km) in the snow. UK would have been at a standstill.