Back on my own two feet again.

So as of tomorrow, life goes back completely to normal.  I need to be at my desk, logged in and ready, at 9am, so when the first alarm goes off at 5.30am, I need to hit the light switch rather than the snooze button. I will be leaving work at 5.30pm instead of 4, which means travelling at the peak of the rush hour and not getting home until almost 7pm.

That is what I'm dreading most.  I'm sticking to using bus and tube for the moment rather than risking using the staircase at our local overground station.  In the morning that works out fine, as I get on near the start of the route, and there are plenty of seats.  Come peak time travelling back on the tube, I used to rarely got a seat until a few stops before I alighted.  Until my ankle to totally healed and pain free, I need to be sure I can rest up and not be thrown here and there.  I'll be taking my stick with me for the next couple of weeks at least.

I've got leave booked for the week after next - so I can watch most of the Cheltenham Festival, as I do every year.  It's when I really get serious about seed sowing too.  As I don't have a proper greenhouse, or anywhere to put seedlings over heat, I need to wait until the weather is turning.  I have a row of mini greenhouses lining the south facing side of the garden where to suns hits for the longest time, so the seedlings get the most warmth and protection they can.

But even there, we have a snag this year.  Next door's fence is disintegrating.  We have agreed to help replace it, and indeed have a batch of fence panels ready to use when the job gets started, but as yet their landlord hasn't stumped up the funds for the job.  We may just have to get started and hope for a refund, as the length where my mini greenhouses are has started leaning badly too, and there is a danger it may send my seedlings toppling.

There is also far too much to contemplate at the allotment. Seriously thinking of just sheet mulching the lot and starting new beds on top.  Not only did we lose one third of the year because of my ankle, but the two months before that were restricted by Howard's leg infection.  Still nothing wrong with a clean slate.  The fruit tress and bushes are still there, and I've ordered more, so we have a structure to work with, and a shut to shelter in.  Oh - and plenty of compost.

Yes - four months have gone by since I ended up in Chase Farm A&E.  A whole third of a year.  I missed Autumn and Winter in effect.  Yesterday on the way home from shopping, we stopped by the lake.  It was the first time I'd been there since an unseasonably hot Sunday in October.  I'd missed out on my customary visits on New Year's Day and when the snow fell.  I don't know if I missed seeing any rare migrants or Winter visitors, but my visit yesterday made me feel like I was reclaiming some of the more invigorating, wild parts of my life.  The birds were certainly aware of the approaching Spring - territorial squabbles among ducks, geese pair up, and possibly the noisiest Mute Swan I've ever encountered.  Quite a few of the Black Headed Gulls were gaining their Summer plumage too.

The Wheel has turned with one almighty clunk.