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China Girl blog 4th March 2020

The beginning of March marks the start of meteorological spring. March can be a very cold month and it is just as likely to snow this month as it is in January and February.

This past week had its usual problems, amongst which were yet more squirrels, this time in the Coach House attic where Peter lives. They had gnawed holes in the barge- board beside the previous holes which has been boarded over. Rod, who comes once a week and does an amazing job with maintenance, stuffed the holes with wire netting. He climbed into the attic to make sure the squirrel had ventured out for the day, whilst David waited outside with Ma’s gun.

Poor David fell off the step-ladder whilst pruning the beech hedge, luckily, he didn’t break any bones; the only casualty being the handle of the pruning pole.

Dodging in and out of the showers, Chris, Marcus and Ma were pruning the wisteria on the roof of the workshop, but were unable to finish due to the weather. Wesley managed to burn all the dead leaves of the Dioramas with the flame thrower. Another job ticked off the list.

It took three of us to resurrect the standard Cryptomeria, which had blown down in the gales. We bound it up with tape, splinting the break, then the trunk was tied to three posts. We can only hope it will survive, having split almost through – only time will tell.

On Saturday Mother and I went to the spring Antiques Fair at Shepton Mallet. We purchased a cold bronze life-size wood louse for Mother’s collection of life-size bronze insects. On our way out, we spotted a trader who deals in ancient artefacts. Ma would have liked to buy everything on his stand, but settled for a twelfth century amber glass bottle from the crusader period, coming from the Holy Land. It is incredible to think that it had survived for over a thousand years.

The saying that ‘If March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb’ almost never proves true. It is indicative of the turbulence of the March weather. But at least there is hope in the coming month that the joy of spring is in sight.