So, I have spent the morning working from home today - trying to get uninterrupted time to finish a report from my last trip, before the next one rushes up from behind to bite me (as it will in two weeks time when I head off to Southern Africa gain). Our dining room table allows a view of the expansive back garden these Brits all have, and I saw them. The little thieving critters. Those foreign impostors on mud island soil. Flower haters. Nut munching.

Photo credit: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html4ever/031125.Swihart.squirrels.html

Grey squirrels, of course. Not so special because there are loads of them, but I haven't seen any of them since Rose last fumed that those conniving little varmints had once again dug up her plant bulbs, just waiting now for next spring. Oh, and I did get the report completed - checking my blogs was my reward to myself.

Saturday night braai

Ready for friends and a braai in Worthing

Yes, it is not quite the same as the 'old days' of braais around the pool with loads of good friends around, but after a full day of working in the garden, I was thankful it was a small one. We enjoyed a very convivial meal with Zimbo friends, the Chiketas, and it felt good to be able to just talk lots about things we all had in common. And you know, the meat for the braai was excellent - British beef and lamb - cooked up deliciously. We are getting used to the fact that the sun is still shining bright at dinner time (this photo was taken at a quarter to six), and as the really terrible garden we moved in with a few months back turns into something much nicer, we are enjoying our first full English summer.

Sunday Sunshine

Narcissus, Tulips, and pansies feature in Rose's first planter in England

Our garden is beginning to look like something we enjoy being in and looking at. It was an untidy mess when we moved into the house, and then came winter, so not much could get done. But spring has created the motivation, and we have had three braais (BBQ to the rest of the world) on our back garden patch. Rose has been busy planting sweet peas, and the bulbs we did plant in winter have come up and bloomed.

Yes, those are bikes up at the other end, and our braai

No, that is not our house, it is 3 houses!

The lawn is recovering nicely after much neglect I am certain! As I type here, I can hear church bells peeling in the near distance, and the broken lock I repaired on the garden shed at the bottom of the garden makes me feel like getting in there and setting up some of my tools and organising the workbench.