I wouldn’t mind the new year starting again to be honest, it hasn’t been a great start. The weather was bitterly cold for most of the week, but that was okay for chainsawing logs – it’s the job that warms you twice. Then the snow came on Monday morning, which looked lovely and is great for a photo opportunity, and it also provides pretty obvious clues as to where my nocturnal visitors are accessing the garden. But the water supply froze, the temperature in the potting shed rarely made it into positive figures, with crazy kaleidoscopic frosted patterns forming on the inside of the windows.

On Tuesday morning I missed a call from Jennifer whilst I was logging, and when I returned it I received a tale of woe. While walking Nellie she had trodden on a icy puddle that was covered in snow and slipped, falling heaving on her arm and wrist. That afternoon was spent in A&E at the West Suffolk where she received confirmation that she had fractured her left wrist. So home we went with her massively swollen hand supported in a brace, with a sling around her neck. She has an appointment at the fracture clinic on Friday, at which point we are expecting them to apply a cast. The implications are that on top of my day job I am now chief cook and bottle washer at home, as well as dog walker, chicken/duck mucker outer, and laundry assistant, and general skivvy, and will be for several weeks.

I am going to have to balance my hours between home and Moyns Park, at least until we get into some kind of routine, but it could of course be much worse. Some things will have to be shelved or rationalised.

On Thursday evening after loading the van for my local deliveries I went to start the van, only discover that I had a flat battery. It was at the time that the rain had begun to fall steadily (eventually leading to some flooded roads), I couldn’t call on Jennifer to come over in her car with the jump leads because of her inability to drive. I called the farm manager to see if he could give me a jump start, but he was off the estate and wouldn’t be back for some hours, however, he told me that there was a battery starter pack in the barn that I could try, so I went a got it and connected it to my terminals. As I turned my ignition strange sounds emanated from under the bonnet and lights flashed on the dashboard. I tried a few times without success before making a call to a friend who lives a couple of miles away, and who is pretty handy with all things automotive, Danny will sort me out I convinced myself. Danny was near Colchester and wouldn’t be home for a while. In desperation I then called the lady with the horses in the paddocks in from of my potting shed and asked of her partner was home and did he have any jump leads? Yes he was and yes he did, “give us a few minutes and we will be down”. I had left the battery starter pack connected and went out to disconnect it and take it back to the barn while I waited. On impulse I turned the ignition key one last time, just in case, and hey presto the engine fired up! I quickly called the horse woman and told her that I didn’t need her after all, but thanked her profusely, and then set off on my delivery round. The reason for the flat battery? I had left the internal light on all day.

Now, I had planned to stop in Steeple Bumpstead to fill up with diesel because my fuel guage was in the red, but having only just got the vehicle going I dare not switch it off so soon before the battery had any time to recharge. So on I forged, keeping the engine running at every delivery drop-off location and made it safely home. That night I slept fitfully, worrying about whether or not the van would start in the morning, and about how much fuel I had left in the tank. She started first pop in the morning! Great news eh? However, by the time I got as far as Hartest on my way to Bury the fuel guage was now off the scale and I was stuck behind a very cautious driver going at 25mph, but I dare not risk the fuel consuming high revs to overtake, so I sat there illogically rocking backwards and forwards in the driving seat, as if to provide some forward momentum to the vehicle, and coasting down any hills to conserve diesel. Anyway I made it! What a relief it was to glide onto the garage forecourt. After the run of misfortune during the week I was convinced that I was going to be stranded in the wet sleet somewhere near Whepstead.

Because of the heavy snow, frozen ground, followed by flooding in parts of the country, the availability of produce is still not good for this week. I am hoping that normality will resume next week. So all I can offer is cavolo nero, January King cabbage, and mostly root vegetables. There are one or two bright spots, namely celery and fruit. It’s actually a good week for that, there are avocados, lemons, clementines, Seville marmalade oranges, Spartan appples, and Salustiana oranges. These are smaller than the navels of last week (at least I hope they are), and have a reputation for being sweet and juicy.

Apologies for not thanking those of you last week that were so kind as to give me a Christmas gift, it was really very sweet and very much appreciated.

Right, where did I leave my pinny? I have got chores to attend to. Have a good week, it is apparently going to be 11° tomorrow! crazy eh?

Phil