By Bernie Bell

Pics Mostly By McB

April the Sixteenth………….Ballot papers arrived and we voted…..Posted on the way to the Peedie Chippy…..Life.

Postal voting mean that we shouldn’t ever have to miss a vote – even if unwell, or away from home, or because of horrible weather.  Postal votes are A GOOD THING.

April the Seventeenth…………… What it is to have good neighbours…………..Our neighbours up the road offered some poo from their Shetland ponies and poo from their chickens as fertilizer for the veg patch. Mike went up with a barrow to collect it…….a bit too fresh to be dug in straight away, but it’s gone into the compost bins for next year. 

April the Eighteenth……..An Alien among the stones at Skaill Bay…..or…….a Skaillien!

April the Nineteenth……..Our new mower arrived…..all electric…..battery supplied….charger supplied…..no more petrol!  Just keep on re-charging the battery.  AND….after trying quite a few suppliers who refused to deliver to Orkney – we ordered it on-line from Currys PC World, who didn’t quibble at all about delivering to Orkney – FREE!  Yay!

April the Twentieth………….Cowslips in the meadow…..might not be pure-bred….some have cross-pollinated with primroses and primulas….Vive la différence!

April the Twenty-first………..It’s my birthday!………..Where did the time go?  Inside me, I’m 18, going out with my friends, having GOOD TIMES!   Nearly 50 years ago.  Jeeeeez!

I don’t mind getting old, as such – it’s the increasing decrepitude that I object to!

April the Twenty-second…..The Dandelions are starting to flower…we used to fight them…pull them up whenever we saw them –  they are thugs, and will take over if they can.  Then we decided to leave them in the meadow – they are among the first sources of food for the bees, and they are bright and cheery. Not in the flower beds though – I draw the line there!