I walked to the top of the cherry orchard in the early evening. My joint-favourite spot, the other being the bench on the far side of the lake, hidden among the trees. There to the west were the blue remembered hills and my poplars dear, just brushed with pale green. The variety of subtle shades of green as the trees emerge is extraordinary. The big old cherry tree behind the house is a it peak of whiteness and the rest of the blossom is about to break. All in order then. I saw a large deer, a lot of rabbits, two kestrels and, as I came back downhill, the barn owl off for his evening's hunting. I heard a thrush and a lark, saw a pair of buzzards dropping down into the big oak. I heard robin, chaffinch, bluetit and blackbird. But what I did NOT see was a single solitary hirundine. No swallow. No housemartin. I wouldn`t expect a swift for another week at least. But everything is supposed to be so early, nature doesn`t know what to do with itself, we have cherry blossom in January and .. oh, all that stuff. So where are my swallows ? Where is the cuckoo ? Memo, ask the postman. He is always the first to hear the cuckoo.

Meanwhile, having had a week of work, both book-wise and MA dissertation-wise, I am curling up with a Penny Vincenzi about people who had too much money in the 80s, and spent it profligately and showily and without thought for tomorrow, but who came crashing down in the Lloyds debacle. All seems a long way off that doesn`t it ? But when we moved here there was still a huge amount of fallout from Lloyds in the housing market - a lot of properties came on sale which had been in families for generations.

Not great literature but a great read and satisfyingly chunky. On the cover of all her re-packaged backlist is a little band that says 'Treat yourself to a Penny Vincenzi.' So I did. Great marketing.

Does anyone want a pair of 8 year old kittens ? If so, see me. They are not mine but they belonged to someone who has gone into a care home and cannot be kept. The person who is responsible for them is a good friend so if you would like two cats or know of anyone who... otherwise, it`s The Big Sleep.