Spring, apparently, has sprung. This is supposed to fill me with delight, although if I was honest I find this a time of trepidation in the garden as we see what has survived the winter and what has not, and the inevitable rigmarole of the mowing of the lawn; one of those things I have always been put off on doing since it was decreed that this chore particularly was mine as a child. One of those moments that you parents conspire against you as neither of them want to do it and walking the dog did not quite cut it as sufficient to earn pocket money. I hated doing it and still do, much as it is satisfying to look out on a nicely mown lawn as it makes the garden look neater no matter what else is going on in it. That is assuming that we can still call it a lawn; after some years of neglect – or I prefer letting nature take its course – the percentage of grass seems to have been reduced somewhat to a minority population among the mosses, wild flowers and various other invaders. Sometimes it is a shame to even mow it, and we do try and let the bees get at the clover flowers for at least a week so they are not totally wasted.

I am more delighted with the birds and the level of activity – a friend of mine complained when sleeping in our front room after a late night gaming session that the birds in hedge just outside the window were making a tremendous racket from very early in the morning (not something we notice as much as our bedroom is diagonally opposite). It was our local mob of sparrows, who we think might be nesting under the eaves of the house on the other side of the road but seem to spend a lot of time in our hedge during the day… and even more so since I have started a feeding station there. They are cheeky, lovely little birds, but they sure are noisy buggers. And this is from someone like me who is not at home in the house unless there is some noise in the background. I may have to take calls when working from home from a different room if they continue to generate the same level of noise.

But they make me smile, and goodness knows with the world as it is, sometimes you need to have that kind of thing, whether it is birds, small child antics, flowers, a good book, or in the last 24 hours Radio 2 presenters dancing to 1980s tunes for Comic Relief. It was an extraordinary silly thing and probably not on a par with swimming the channel or something, but I have to admit that every bit I saw made me grin and feel just a little happier with the universe; of course the 1980s are my formative music years too so that much of helped and at the time of writing it looks like 24 hours of endurance and nostalgia has generated the best part of a million pounds for good causes and I think that deserves a pat on the back for all concerned. Well done Sara Cox and if you wondering what I am going on about go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1Fqd8B8RcPCd3ZLL7CzFXDT/the-best-bits-from-sara-coxs-epic-danceathon  for some highlights (and if so possessed, consider donating).