Thursday's forecast...week 52.....29/12/11....and A belated Merry Christmas..and a early Happy New Year!!

Well I meant to write a Merry Christmas post to all me readers but with getting everything sorted and stuff Christmas came and went without me getting around to it. It was spent with family and close friends and was lovely and relaxed just the way I like it...hope you all had a great Christmas.

The weather has been horrible of late. Christmas Day was the third warmest on record in the U.K., still cold in my opinion at between 8 and 15 degrees but some people thought it was warm enough to have garden parties or go swimming in the sea...then come Summer they will yet again be complaining how cold it is when it doesn't get beyond the mid 20's...I just can't figure some people out!!

The weather has took a turn for the worse the last few days with gales of up to 70m.p.h. and driving rain...but I haven't let it spoil my Christmas...though I haven't visited the allotment either!

Yesterday morning as the sun rose the biggest flock of seagulls flew over...I live in the east midlands and the sight of so many sea birds usually portents bad weather so i will see what the next couple of weeks bring.

Tomorrow the winds are supposed to drop so i may go up the allotment for a little fresh air and do a bit of tidying up....but I won't feel bad if I don't make it...after all I am on holiday!!

So now I just want to wish all my readers a Happy New year and Best wishes for 2012, I know I am a little early but we have some plans..nothing huge but I may not get chance again to post before the new year so here it is....Hope you all enjoy your celebrations!

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Weather Watch Wednesday.....21/12/11.......week 51.....and 'break in' news

So lets start with the weather....We have had some particularly cold and frosty nights this week and the cold has seeped into the days too.

Temperatures have ranged between 1 and 8 degrees during the day and -4 to 5 degrees at night.
The warmer days haven't given us much though as they have been dreary and dark and rainy...I think I prefer the cold and bright.

No snow to speak of...maybe half a dozen flakes and then it has turned to sleet or rain....still chance of a white Christmas yet though.

The winds have been mild at between 5 and 30 m.p.h.

So now for the break in. Well it wasn't so bad after all. The culprit actually broke into 5 sheds but stole nothing. All these sheds had locks on which had been cut clean through (presumably with bolt cutters.) But nothing in any of the sheds had been disturbed...not even my tiller. It's curious as to why they would do this...one person said that they had done it in readiness to come back...but I think any thief with a brain would know that people would remove valuables if they had gotten broken into so I think that maybe they were disturbed. Needless to say...it still naffed me off but I am glad that my tiller is still mine and it is now safely in the shed at home.

So not a bad ending to the story and I don't know if they will be back but I do know that from now on no matter what the weather my tiller will be coming home with me!!

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Why do people do it??

Well just a quick few lines and none of them happy.

My Nephew was round today whilst I was at work and took a phone-call for me. Someone from the allotments letting me know my shed has been broken into.

I didn't get the message until I was on the way to the doctors...(flu jab...so my arm is stiff to boot!!)....and by the time I got home it was dark so I have no idea what the damage is or what has been taken but my Tiller was still in the shed as I hadn't got around to bringing it home. I just don't understand why people do it.

I'm going to take the night off reading and tomorrow I will post to let you know exactly what has been taken...and any damage that was caused...hope everyone else is having a better Monday than me.

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A little something else about the allotment.

Well I said in my lat post that I had a little something else to tell you that you would have to wait for the weekend for...well it's the weekend and here it is!!

That's right...I won a prize for my allotment. I know it's only 5th place but I was very proud of myself...especially knowing that the first 4 prizes went to well established allotment holders who've had their plots for many years. It came with £5 cash prize too!!

So I won this wonderful certificate and a bit of money hen I thought I hadn't done so well and certainly didn't get to spend as much time this last year. I never knew the prize existed...now I think I want to try and improve for next year. Anyway I was very pleased with myself and wanted to share my small achievement with you all!!

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Thursday's Forecast..........15/12/11........week 50.(and a little something extra!!)

Well it's been a while since I wrote a weather post and I am sorry about that but to be honest you haven't missed much of late.

Over the past few weeks the weather has been pretty un-remarkable and mundane. Usual temperatures ..though maybe a few degrees higher than is the 'norm' for this time of year.

Wind, a bit of rain, sometimes bright, sometimes overcast.

Well that was a summary from the last time.

This last week however has turned cold. The winds have been ferocious and we've had some frosts...and rain on a daily basis though usually this has cleared up by the time dawn has broken over the horizon. I'm not sorry we haven't had the bitter temperatures of last year...but I could do without the winds!!

Snow is predicted next week..but we shall see!!

Now for the bit of something different.

I wanted to tell you about a new blog that has just started up.

This blog has just started up about an allotment and the owner is both VERY new to blogging and allotments. As is usual for being a newbie in the allotment world they were given a piece of land which needs lots of work but have gone at it with great enthusiasm and I thought it would be nice to tell you all about it and thought you might like to go over and check it out....maybe leave a comment or two for encouragement...and even some tips if you can.

Hope you enjoy http://townfarmallotment.com/ and I wish him all the best for his allotment and blog and will keep popping over myself to see how he's getting on.

Well that's it for today's post....I have a little something else to tell you...but that will have to wait until the weekend. Stay warm and dry!!!

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Time waits for no man!!

Okay...so I am finally getting round to doing another post...it's not that I haven't been to the allotment or anything I am just still trying to get everything sorted out and some structure back into my schedule which gives me time to get on the computer regularly.

I guess I could make loads of excuses but I won't..I will however apologise to all my regular readers and now the weather is getting colder I'm sure I will get a little more time...and with Christmas coming up I will have some time off work too so I will definitely be getting lots more posts in....just a pity it's winter really...but don't worry even though we are so late in the year I still have plenty to do and tell you...it's not just the blog that has got a little neglected of late!!

Anyway I got a good proportion of the allotment winter dug today, though I have to confess that was mainly due to my son who encouraged me to go and get some work done and was a really big help...it's not very often you can say that about the teenagers of today but he was the one 'chivvying' me up so credit where credit is due...and thanks to the kick up the butt from him I got half of one of the plots finished...so 'Yay us!!'

Well there are a few pics for you to look at so I hope you enjoy them.

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So above is a little bit of an overview..this is where work still needs to be done and hopefully the weather will be kind for at least another week so i can get a bit more digging done.



Above you can see the freshly dug earth..oh and my son who was way to 'chipper' for a teenager outside at 10am on a Saturday when it was only 2 degrees!!

All in all it was a good morning...the ground was icy in places which made the digging hard work but it was worth it in the end and we both left smiling at the amount we accomplished in such a short time. I still have lots to tell so I am going to get a few more posts up this week but I will stop right here for now and go and see what all of you have been up to in my absence!!

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