I started the morning by wrestling with a particularly recalcitrant shrub root in the flower bed we’ve been clearing; eventually some lusty blows with a lump hammer loosened its grip enough to get the electric saw at the tap root and we now have an empty bed, ready for replanting.

After that, I took the debris to the recycling centre then gave the car a much needed clean to go with its new tyres.

I spent part of the afternoon sitting in the sunshine in the garden in the company of a book, when I noticed that our feather plant has bloomed early!