Monday 4th April – Oh my goodness! So cold! Even though we had seen the forecast and knew the temperatures were going to drop this week, it was still a shock. Wind like a knife and even a flurry of snow. Pretty unusual for east Devon in April. So glad I didn’t plant anything out last week. We managed a walk on the beach but hadn’t realised how cold it was when we left the house. Down by the beach the wind was searing and I had not brought a hat. I came back with earache. Gulls huddled on the beach under the cliff looking very miserable. The sea silvery and grey, a few fishing boats just off-shore.
Tuesday 5th April – Even colder today. Top temperature meant to be 6 degrees and a stiff north-westerly wind. Another early walk to catch what bit of sun there is meant to be, more sensibly togged up in winter puffas, hat with ear covers, and a pair of gloves. We had a warming coffee in the shelter facing the east cliffs, a faint outline of Portland just visible in the distance. A pied wagtail joined us for a while, bobbing and flicking his tail, and dog walkers hurried past, heads down, hands in pockets, aiming straight for the part of the beach where dogs are allowed. The turnstones were running backwards and forwards across the Esplanade, hopeful of someone dropping a crumb or two. Counter-intuitive to the feel of the weather, the sea was flat calm, barely a ripple on the surface, the sun glinting in dazzling patches, the blue sky reflected like a summer’s day. As we were walking up the hill out of town it clouded over and a brief hail shower stung our faces. Enough. Time to go home!

Wednesday 7th April – About to go out this morning but affected once again by a bad attack of vertigo. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
Thursday 8th April – Resting today. So it’s nature through the bedroom window. Dunnocks and robins, goldfinches and blackbirds, a laughing green woodpecker are all out and about. Not only are the crows and magpies stripping the amelanchier of twigs but now the wood pigeons and the collared doves have joined in. To make matters worse the collared doves are building a nest in the abelia, right outside the bedroom window. Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo. From about 6am. Clatter, clatter, clatter as the fly in and out of the shrub. Streptopelia Decaocto is their latin name. Sounds a bit like an infectious disease. Antidoveatics may be called for.
Friday 9th April – So sad this morning to hear of the death of Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. My thoughts are with the Queen – a widow after 73 years of marriage. How hard that must be. Tomorrow I will have been married for 45 years – it’s a blink of an eye.
See you next week.