For the past two or three weeks I have thought that I have been getting a cold. I would have the early symptoms, but after a couple of days they would go away until returning a few days later. This has now happened at least three times, but as I write this I am thinking that my defences have finally given up, I have lost the fight, and that I have now actually got a cold. It’s not exactly a surprise, because there seems to have been a lot of people coughing and spluttering recently, and when you talk to anyone the inevitable response is “there’s a lot of it about”, as they sneeze in one’s general direction. I will continue to load up with vitamin C and fresh air, but will avoid the cold showers, and hope that this is another false alarm.

However, is this a good time to be struck down before winter sets in? The argument being that I will be full of antibodies from this bout, and so will be well placed to fight off future ‘bugs’. At this stage it’s carry on regardless, I won’t yet be taking to my bed with a cool damp flannel on my fevered brow. Going back to my old Mother (see last week’s blog), I really objected to that ghastly Vicks ‘Vaporub’ being smeared onto my chest whenever I was feeling peaky, I hated the way that it formed a tacky bond between me and my brushed cotton pyjamas, but resistance was futile. Calamine Lotion was another thing that I recoiled from when it appeared from the medicine cabinet. I think that I would rather have suffered the skin irritation that it was meant to soothe than have that horrid pink stuff that dried to a chalky deposit applied to my flesh. It set my teeth on edge in the same way that finger nails scraping down a blackboard did. I was clearly a proper fusspot as a young child.

I feel a little cheated. The change to GMT last weekend really hasn’t benefitted me – the lighter morning has hardly been noticeable, whereas the 4.30 sunset is a touch depressing. I suppose that if we had GMT throughout the year one would just accept it for what it is, but mucking about with the hour is unsettling. One argument for it is that people don’t want to be going to work in the dark, but unless they work short hours they will be going home in the dark, so what’s the difference?! It was introduced by the Germans during the First World War to save energy, and everyone else followed suit. The EU has been debating whether or not to halt the practice for a few years now, but no decision has been made yet. My vote would be for keeping it the same all year.

When I got round to cutting the Romanesco cauliflowers last week they were larger than I thought they were going to be, so you got pretty good value for money – the likes of Riverford would charge you about £3.50 for one of those I reckon. This week’s won’t be quite as big on the whole, but still a decent size. The featured photo shows the sublime beauty of a humble vegetable, you can clearly see the wonderful mathematical Fibonacci sequence in practice, a thing of wonder. There are also ‘regular’ white cauliflowers, cavolo nero, Savoy cabbages and broccoli, so you will be bright eyed and bushy tailed if you consume that lot…oh, and have curly hair (if only I had some). You will also be able to see in the dark courtesy of the orange or rainbow carrots. I will be digging Jerusalem Artichokes this week to give you get up and go. Swede, red cabbage, celery, kohlrabi, onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, parsnips and beetroot are all available. You have a choice of the orange Uchiki Kuri squash or Butternut, but you maybe pumpkined out after Halloween.

The apples are Cox’s again, there are still some cookers, avocados are back to normal size this week, there are oranges and quince. Apologies if you got fewer, or no lemons last week, I forgot to order them, so I had to eke out the stock that I had from the previous week. I have ordered some this time, so there should be enough for all.

I finally pulled up the rest of the tomato plants from the polytunnel during the week, so it is now clear. Except that it’s not, because I have planted more than half of it with spring cabbages, the rest of it will mostly be populated with kale and spinach. In the greenhouse I will be planting a bed of chard, and I need to make some space for Pak Choi. It’s meant to be a quieter time of the year, but it doesn’t feel like it.

I haven’t got much more to say, I have lost my muse – distracted by the whiff of a roast dinner wafting from the kitchen. The temperature has dropped to 7° so I think that I will light the woodburner and toast my toes in front of it. Have a good week won’t you? I love you all.

Phil