Chores and Admin

... mostly.

A day catching up on things left undone.   Laundry, cleaning, sorting, putting stuff away.   And Admin.  Car insurance sorted, the annual change of insurer for the best deal plus the first stage of unlocking my small work pension from my previous life.   Numerous phone calls for Ruth, a couple of simple things resolved, the complicated ones not.  I'll keep chipping away but once again up against Birmingham City Council I suspect I'll need stamina, patience and some kind of battering ram to unlock their defences which seem designed to make getting help as difficult as possible.  No direct way to contact any of the departments, just people who pass on messages ... quote of the day "I'd be lying if I said they'll get back to you in fifteen days or anything like that."  I have gone to the top before, depressing to think I may have to do that again :-(

As an antidote to all this, I gave a talk to the local gardening club tonight, short notice cover for someone else.   Nice response to my pictures and my enthusiasm for alpines!

Crocus nudiflorus in the greenhouse.  Another that does fine in UK gardens and has long been naturalised in places, often those once associated with the Knights of St John who brought it here from it's native haunts in France and Spain.