Having spent my hour in the garden it was time to talk with the two elder children and count some of the damage from the previous night. We had been out and got home around 1.30 am. There were lights still on but the house was quiet. Inside the kitchen was filled with the remains of what had clearly been a good party. As we cleared away I counted the bottles; two vodka, one wine and 48 Buds. There was also a bottle of Talisker on the side with enough for a small glass left in the bottom. All told quite impressive.

For supper this evening we are going to have an Indonesian Beef Curry Rendang Daging. It comes from a book called Indonesian Cookery by David Scott and Surya Winata. I have had the book since we lived in Oxford and it was bought on the back of meals that we had at an Indonesian restaurant in Jericho called Bandung. Hopefully it is still there. They did a remarkably good satay sauce.

The curry is very easy to make. It just needs time. Peel a couple of onions, garlic and ginger. throw in some lemon grass and a few red chillies, ground tumeric, coriander and cumin. Although goes into the magimix to be ground down to a thick paste with some coconut milk.

The paste is then put into a heavy bottomed pan with some more coconut milk and brought to a slow boil. Add the beef, turned down the heat so it is just at a simmer and then leave for three hours.

More blue sky and another hour spent out in the garden. Most of the time was spent in the green house potting up the seeds I bought yesterday. Each of them seemed to have slightly different instructions. for the most part I ignored them and just potted them in compost left over from last year.

So far I have put in lettuce, rocket, beetroot, chard, kale, chillies and tomotoes. I also found some borage seeds so potted those as well. There was a definite warmth in the greenhouse although still cold outside.

As always there were far too many seed in each packet and no doubt most of them will stay in the packet.

The sun has been out all morning and the sky bright blue. So i have been down to one of my favourite shops to stock on things to do for the afternoon. No trip to Rightway is complete without seeing something you never knew you needed but having spotted that something it is difficult to think that your life is going to be complete without it.

This morning it was hessian sacks to store your vegetables in once they are out of the ground in the Autumn. So we are barely into Spring and not a seed has been planted but already I can plan ahead 6 months for the bumper harvest that will no doubt be coming. I put them back on the hook but writing about them know I know I am going to have to go back to get some.

My actual purchases were more practical. Two bags of well matured manure. They look like  they might have been left over from last year. ‘Smelly and well rotted’ I was told as I paid for them and their smell did manage to fill the car on the 5 minute drive back home. The usual selection of seeds; tomatoes, courgettes, rocket, chard, beetroot and chillies. Last year I left some of the planting too late so hopefully with the benefit of the new green house I will get it right this year.

Finally I bought a widger, dibber and label set. I never knew i needed a widger but I am glad i have one now.

Listening to The Grateful Dead and not yet quite over the fact that I won’t be seeing Mark Eitzel play in Manchester tonight but buoyed  by the news that Dexy’s and king Creosote are playing in Liverpool over the next few months!

Later that evening the children jumped into the sea from the end of the pier. It was still raining and the wind had picked up by then whipping across the bay. The boats jostled where they were tied and there was a perpetual noise as they bumped against each other.

The tide was not quite in and there was a drop of about four feet down into the water. They wore wetsuits and egged each other on to be the first in. Two of them jumped in together screaming as they went.

I looked up towards the pub. The lights were on but the curtains closed. I could see movement by the door. Someone having a cigarette.

The children flung their arms wide as they went in. They went under in splash of brown foam head then coming up and breaking the surface shrieks from the cold. The youngest held back and shouted ‘Are there jellyfish can you see any jellyfish?’ Her sister took her by the hand and they jumped in together. ‘Its like jumping through glass’ one of them said.

One of the boys came up the ladder with a piece of blue rope over his shoulder. ‘I’ve found this’ he shouted and started to pull at it out of the water. ‘Put it back’ I told him ‘It’ll be doing something.’

Having jumped in and out three or four times they started to get tired and cold. They ran back down the pier in their bare to towels and a hot shower.

I stayed there for a while in the rain. Although it was nearly midnight there was still music coming from The Tin Pub and it swirled and was almost lost in the wind. The water was choppy now and uneven in the half light from the pier.

I turned to go back wet to the skin.