Please don't tell Lisa

First the good news, no, the incredibly good news, the weather this week has been unbelievable. We have gone from winter to summer without bothering with spring. This has meant of course that I have been vulnerable to any suggestion that means I can escape from the shed. When my friend Roy (Yes the one that beat me at golf) rang yesterday to see if I wanted a lunchtime drink I would normally struggle with my conscience and then say I have work to finish. But Roy has a secret weapon. A recently acquired Aston Martin DB9 convertible...in red! Well I've got no defense against that sort of attack and to cut a long story short.......an afternoon was lost.
It gets worse, today Andrea and I took our dog Bart for a walk and the weather was so beautiful that we did not return until this afternoon. Guilt has seen me back in the shed until now......and as I write this I see it is now 2 am GMT but it was worth it.
With the Chicago event looming it was time to check everyone's passports.......and yes, both the childrens's  were out of date and Andreas has disappeared completely. So tomorrow will be a day when the Calvesbert family will be posing for their new passport photographs and Andrea will be trying to prove she is a British National. I am really looking forward to seeing Chicago again, my first taste of America was the ICE event at Rosemont and I have a lot of happy memories from then. My biggest fear is that our country will declare war with Chicago before we get there. These days I'm almost scared to turn on the radio in the morning in case our belligerent nation is at conflict with some new nation in the world. The common denominator seems to be nations with vast oil fields but I'm sure that's just a coincidence.......does Chicago have oil?
But back to the UK. This really is a favourite time of the year for me. The trees and hedgerows are turning green and soon the bottles,cans,litter and car batteries that have been on display at the roadside all winter will disappear under a canopy of green! During our walk today the loudest noise was birdsong and the overpowering smell was that from the blossom on the trees...glorious. I took the opportunity to check the peregrine falcon's nest that I observe every year and once again was rewarded with the sight of the peregrine on it's nest. I shall keep you informed of it's progress over the coming weeks. My pond is full of frog spawn and the fields are full of newborn lambs....I sense an idea for a model.
Now tomorrow I intend to frighten you with more tales of hazards from the shed......no ...not insects or creepy crawlies this time...........but...white finger disease! You have been warned.