Falling like Flies

Now Dad's given his Man flu to Mum, but it seems to have hit her hard and fast, so she's taken to her bed with the lap-top, newspapers and plentiful supplies of tissues, strepsils and coffee. Dad is thinking his is now on the mend - there are whole chunks of day when he doesn't cough and moop pathetically. We've just been for a rather good walk in one of them - all down the Iron Wharf and back up through town and across the Rec.

It's all very sloppy and wet underfoot, so every dog we meet and ourselves, all look ready for a bath, especially below the plimsoll line. Dad's been on weekend cover and reports that while it might be mild down here in Kent, much of the Midlands has a fair dump of snow this morning.

The local bird population is doing rather well for sultanas and stuff at present. While Diamond is in the hospital in London, John seems to be either clearing out the kitchen, or maybe decorating. What ever the truth of that, John appeared on pancake day with a carrier bag full of time-expired bakery bits - apricots, dried fruit, candied peel, almonds, coconut shavings etc.

They are sell by 2008, so we expect they're quite safe, and certainly the birds don't mind. The blackbirds definitely appreciate a sprinkling of sultanas or currants on the ground, and the starlings move across the garden like a police finger-tip search or a sanitation crew mopping up every single one.

Deefski