Saturday 22nd February 2020 - Impatient, Ignoring the Weather and First Crabs

February has to be my least favourite month of the year. Once we get to the end of January, I get impatient and want to see spring start in earnest. February often proves to be miserable and to my mind, this year is no exception. However, I have chosen to ignore the weather and, in addition to the usual cleaning, washing, cooking, ironing, shopping and walking Barney, I have done a number of things. It wasn’t until I listed them here that I could see; I have been far from idle. Probably best to skip the following sentence in italics; the listing is for my record and not as some may perceive it - bragging! I have planted broad bean seeds in trays in the greenhouse, hosed off a mat after a 500ml pot of cream that was destined for ice-cream fell on it, made the ice-cream after replenishing the cream that ended up on the mat, written out our vegetable planting list, started a photo gallery page on Overstrand Life, condensed 2019 diaries ready to check and print, attended our WI meeting, been to Norwich, de-iced the chest freezer, set up a Kindle countdown enabling readers to purchase my novel, On the Verge for just 99p, followed this with posts on my website Clifftop Publishing, Facebook and Twitter making as many people as possible aware of the offer and finally, I spring cleaned the kitchen. Peter took advantage of the drop in wind speeds and reinstated the plastic cover on the frame, purchased to protect the seed potatoes and planted in bags. With more fixings and strengthening to the frame, it remained in place when the winds picked up again today. He has also tackled the unenviable job of clearing a blocked drain. Even though I do not pour fats or oil down the sink, somehow a mini fatberg had been created, causing the problem.

While fisherman Andy’s boat, Jayne Marie, is away for some essential maintenance, I heard that Andy has been out with Rob on his boat, Cara Marie. They have been dropping shannocks of pots, marking the beginning of the crabbing season, a season which due to the mild winter (and despite a grotty February) has started early. It sometimes takes a little time before the pots yield any crabs so we were surprised to see Anthea (Rob’s wife) who runs The Lobster Pot, had crabs for sale when we went down to Mundesley on Friday morning. There were only a few and we couldn’t resist buying a couple for our lunch. No doubt the rest sold like ‘hot cakes’.