Life could be worse!

This is the old fishing village of Collieston which lies a trio of miles to the north of Newburgh on Ythan.

At first sight it would appear that Spring has finally arrived; there are people on the beach, the sky is blue, at least in part, and the sea is azure. But appearances can be truly deceptive, the mercury was sitting on just 3 degrees, a bone-chilling wind was coming out of Arctic Russia and yes, those are snow clouds on the horizon.

The evening television news was full of doom and gloom on the impact of the awful weather, the price of potatoes has already doubled, vegetables in general will be in short supply, the oil seed rape which should be in flower is far from, the daffodil growers have only just started to pick their blooms, having missed the usual bonanza of easter and mothers' day. I am, yet again, truly grateful that I am not a Mediaeval peasant because, if I was, then I would be facing a disastrous harvest and would likely starve to death next winter.