Thursday 5th January 2023 - Mirrored, Sweepers and Growth

I have been browsing and tidying my blogs for 2022, prior to printing. When I read the first blog of the year, with comments about unoccupied holiday homes and lets over Christmas and more occupancies for the New Year, this almost mirrored my first blog for 2023. There is no comparison with 2021 as we were in lockdown, although some chose to ignore the guidelines. So, is this going to be the norm for future years; New Year breaks more popular than Christmas? One thing I haven’t checked is whether the holiday lets, empty over Christmas, could be booked or whether their owners prefer not to have people staying at a time of year when there is likely to be more mess and disorder from cooking which their cleaners would have to deal with.

Our friendly turnstone brought two more with it the other morning but there was no sign of any of them yesterday. The temperatures have increased, so maybe they are now finding more food and don’t need the little treats I provided, or was it the road sweepers on the promenade that scared them away. I don’t quite see the point of clearing the stones and sand that get washed up on the promenade. Surely the stones can’t do the cleaning mechanisms of the vehicles any good and the sea will only deposit more stones at the next high tide. It would be better if the District Council put more resources into clearing the roadside rubbish. When we walked part of Beach Road, in Cromer, just after Christmas, it was obvious from the amount of accumulated rubbish this had not been cleared for a long time. While I am on the subject of rubbish, Morrison’s car park was just as bad!

Going back to 2022, a few weeks ago, while I was clearing some leaves in the garden, I spotted bluebell foliage coming up under our walnut tree, followed by daffodil and tulip leaves making an appearance, elsewhere in the garden, as well as buds forming on our blackcurrant bush. There was little growth when we had that cold and frosty spell but they are all starting to grow again. We still have, what can be the worst of the winter weather to come, but it is good to see a move towards spring and the flower buds on our helleborus opening.