Shield bug

While I was tidying the garden today in the spring sun, the gorgeous green of this fella's underbelly caught my eye. I thought he was dead at first, but then all his legs wriggled at once and he caught hold of a leaf that I held out to him. I lifted him to the safety of the garden table, then I thought I'd blip him, so here he is.

The birds were all singing their hearts out today - it was lovely listening to them while sipping my tea in the garden. There were a few bees around, too, and the daffs are beginning to open.

I had the company of the electrician all day. Poor man had the unenviable task of mapping the circuits in our mashed-up 1970s converted Victorian house. A couple of the circuits aren't earthed. So, he'll come back to do those - another day unbudgeted for, but it's definitely better to be safe than sorry. Talking of safe, while changing the fusebox, the electrician got a shock (literally) from the cable that leads electricity from the main feed to the flat upstairs. Even though the wire is insulated, it's leaking electricity! I'm glad that it wasn't me who discovered this. The live wire is classified as an emergency and the electricity provider should fix this very, very soon seeing as it's active in my basement. It's amazing to think that the electrician was called just to sort one cable and he's discovered all these nasty gremlins.

There is good news today, though, because I have a visitor to the garden. Omar the tortoise is out of hibernation and has come to live with us for a time. She was last seen digging herself into the overgrown ivy. I'm sure she will appear on blip in due course.