Back again

Just received an e-mail from Chris of perhapslivingthegoodlife and it jogged my memory that I started a blog, it's almost 3 years since last post.

Nothing much has changed except we're now 3 years older but not necessarily a lot wiser.

Biggest change was my 65th birthday last year when I qualified for a State pension at the new rate of 155 per week, which I don't get as I don't have enough class 1 NI contributions, a combination of contracting out of SERPS, who actually understood the implications? and self-employment, so a reduced amount of 136 is paid. But I now qualify for a bus pass and pensioners special fish and chips in the local sit-down chippy, so not all bad.

Cumbrian weather continues as its erratic self, been a few weeks of cold, dull, damp and generally miserable days but the thermometer tells me it's getting warmer even if it doesn't feel like it. And the snow-drops are out in profusion with daffodils not far behind, fields full of sheep looking heavily pregnant so lambing will soon be here. My wife, a city person, loves to see the lambs cavorting in spring but struggles with the idea that they're destined to turn up on her dinner plate later in the year.

Wildlife seems to be thriving in the back garden as well, saw our resident squirrel yesterday, rabbits appear occasionally, and the very occasional hedgehog. Birds of all sizes also plentiful, they're getting very voluble, wonder if that means they're thinking about starting nest-building?