Friday 21 March 2014

This and that

That distinctly un-Springlike wind is still around and our Market Place is a no-go area, as it was yesterday.   One or two market stalls are braving the elements - mostly the more sturdy stalls - but buyers are few, other than everyone collecting their fruit and vegetables and fish and sausage.   The garden stall is there and is laid out with row upon row of primulas in the most wonderful colours - a joy to behold but always rather a disappointment when you get them home.   If you bring them indoors they pine for the fresh air and quickly begin to die; if you bed them outside they don't care for frost because they have been raised under glass.   So you can't really win with them unless you want them for just a day or two.
Home again now.   Meeting friends, as usual, for our morning coffee in our local coffee house - I wouldn't miss that for the world.   What is better than friends getting together for a laugh and a chat - isn't that what makes the world go round?

The oil man has just been and filled our oil tank.   The last village he went to, about six miles away, had the most horrendous hail storm while he was there.   We have had brilliant unbroken sunshine, albeit it with cold and wind, all day.   This is the price you pay for living in the Dales, or in any hilly area come to that.   And as for the Pennines, it can be totally different weather West and East of this really not very high range.

When I think of Linda at Colorado Farm and Parsnip in Tucson - both of them looking out onto the most beautiful mountain ranges, I am very envious.

I have just spent an hour dealing with the chore of a failed Vat return.   I am sure it was my fault - somehow I failed to register the claim.   But I have had to go through it all again, write letters and hope they will accept my letter as I just can't see how to get back on the site for dates which have now passed. 

Sometimes, I just wish that computers had not been invented and that all business had to be conducted through snail mail - but then, if that were so, I wouldn't have this daily contact with all my virtual blogging friends would I?   I can't have it all ways - so here's to computers, blogging, and the hope that one day I master the art of dealing with Government Deparments and understanding their wording.

7 comments:

angryparsnip said...

I do love my view, that is why I bought this house but I am envious of your views, streams, lush green land and rain.
That is also why I so enjoy the blogs I read.

cheers, parsnip

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hi Pat!
Thanks for the postcard explanation! I wasn't sure if that was an expression to say you didn't want comments on that subject or not! Well, now I know about that. But here I go again. What is a VAT return? Is it like income tax?

Heather said...

You have my admiration for dealing with VAT returns at all - I wouldn't know where to begin. It has turned much colder here too and we have had some very squally heavy showers. It's not looking too good for a weekend on the garden. Maybe I'll get my workroom sorted out instead.

Cloudia said...

"There isn’t much better in this life than finding a way to spend a

few hours in conversation with people you respect and love. You

have to carve this time out of your life because you aren’t really

living without it. "
Real Live Preacher


ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral

=^..^= <3

Hildred said...

I hear what you are saying about primulas, Pat - they look so inviting and springlike at the market but such a disappointment after a few days at home on the window sill. March seems to be wild and difficult all over, but hopefully it is just an eccentric prelude to real spring.

thousandflower said...

Clear and sunny and CHILLY here, too

Cro Magnon said...

A little while back, Lady Magnon was given a potted Primula by the village (a grandma's day present). She planted it outdoors and it has gone crazy, and is now covered in flowers. Pure LUCK methinks.