Solitary primrose

This seems to be the only surviving primrose of half a dozen I planted on the small bank by our boundary hedge.  And the one that was beside the rill has been lost when we had the work done to try to stop the water loss.

If we were staying, I'd add some more around this one.  But that's obviously not an option.  

Despite our relative disengagement with the garden, we did spend quite a lot of time out there today.  I waded around in the pond and cleared blanket weed, rotting leaves and sundry other stuff.  We lifted out the pump, and discovered why the flow had been so bad recently - it was absolutely covered in snails.  So we dislodged them, and the W took it apart and cleaned inside - we now have a satisfactory flow again.  And we found a newt - albeit one that looked a bit the worse for wear, and may not survive to breed more newts.

We then cut back some stuff and filled the garden waste bin - due for collection on Thursday morning.

We are making slow preparations for moving, despite the snail like progress on the conveyancing - sigh.  I had a hair cut - probably the last one with my current hairdresser, so I asked her to cut it very short (not quite as short as here, but shorter than it has been recently), so I don't need to worry about it for several weeks.  And I picked up a year's supply of contact lenses - gives me plenty of time to find an optician I like in Waterford.  And we sorted out some more stuff for giving away locally - but not tomorrow - if the weather is anything other than torrential rain, we're having a day out.