Waiting for...

... Yodel. No delivery slot given, other than sometime between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.  There could be worse problems, however.

Ruth and Luca dropped in early, to pick up Eben's folder of Pokemon cards and football cards, left here yesterday by mistake. On Fridays, his school allows kids to bring in cards like this and trade them; this seems an enlightened approach, and works well for Eben.  Then Luca stayed with me for half an hour, while Ruth picked up a chest of drawers from Oxfam.  We had a contented time with the Play Doh, returning to a satisfying cycle of making shapes in various colours and then squashing them again :-)

After that, I made the best of the unavoidable tethering to the house by getting to grips with overgrown shrubs in the front garden. For some, it's too early to prune, but some others can be taken in hand a bit this month.
There's just one little clump of snowdrops out there, the only one that has survived various planting initiatives. Either the squirrels get them, or perhaps I've just picked unsuitable spots. Maybe these survivors will spread eventually.