Garden Spring Clean

Have just spent an hour tidying up the yard (using this Americanism as it does somehow describe my outside space better than garden, as it's only just bigger than a few square yards, is mostly paving and the words 'patio' or 'terrace' sound too pretentious for it). Late afternoon spring sun was exactly the right temperature to work in. I remember being reluctant to sweep up the mounds of leaves in the autumn as they were wet and horrible and my broom had a wobbly stick which meant that the brush kept falling off. But having left the broom outside all winter the wood has now swollen so that the brush is now firmly attached to the stick and it is a pleasure to work with. (If only all of life's problems could be solved by ignoring them for months...)