Strange beasts

Miserable cold weather over the last few weeks has left me with no option but to tidy the shed.

It’s not a job I undertake with any glee, knowing that I’ve been stuffing bits and pieces away willy nilly for more than a year in the belief that they’ll one day prove useful. So lots of odd string, old screws and other items I’m not even sure have a name to find a more sensible place for. Here’s the result, including a re-topped potting table to the left (click to enlarge).

Fortunately I don’t have to worry about sudden unexpected movements in dark corners any more. I put heavy tiles all around the outside edge of the shed walls some time ago and have never had a rat rummaging about since then. Seems to be a distinct lack of mice as well… no more surprises such as opening the compost bag to unleash a frenzied scuttling of overwintering little field mice in all directions.

Spiders are another matter. Maybe I should start a spider competition… if you think you’ve got the Atlas of all spiders use the ‘Contact me’ tab to let me know and I’ll send you my email address to forward a picture. The ones lurking around my shed are, well, just…

Here’s some artist impressions of other bugs I found lurking around…

Got a lovely surprise yesterday morning… one of my Premium Bonds came up trumps with a £5,000 win! That put a smile on my face. Been longing for an Apple iPad for ages and now’s the chance to get one.

Cue much frenzied searching on the Internet. Knowing it’s now a year since the first one was issued, it’s highly likely Apple will have a new version in the stocks… and yes, word is they’ll be announcing v2 any minute ready to launch in April. At the same time a whole load of competitors are likely to release their own version, in particular the Blackberry Playbook. So think I’ll hold off just for a while. Would love a Kindle e-book reader as well but think I’ll wait to see what it’s like to read books on the iPad.

Had a fun squash session with grandsons Connor and Sammy (aged 8yrs) yesterday late afternoon. Was Sammy’s first session and he did SOOOO WELL! In fact he went home with the cup for really trying… thought he might not like playing but he’s smitten to the extent he’s asking about buying a squash racquet and ball and put off seeing one of his many girlfriends next Friday ‘cause it’s squash practise day! Sammy’s keepy up record was 8, good for his first session. Connor’s up to 60 now after three sessions.

Won’t mention yesterday’s pitch and putt result. Hurricane conditions don’t suit me!