When It's Spring Again

Spring has sprung. Well, sort of, nearly. As I sit here under the gray and billowy skies of what remains of Winter, I feel the srrings of the hope that accompany the season. Mother Nature is already dropping clues if you care to look, signs of rebirth and renewal are all around. Trees and bushes have started to bud, green things are pushing their way up through the frosty grounds and the promise of longer, warmer days is well on the way to being honoured. Just this morning I found a rather red looking Queen Bee on my windowsill, I gave her a drink and opened the window for her, when I looked again, she had gone. She's flown off to find a new home for her and the kids. It's a lile thing but just for a couple of moments I felt that all was good in the world of Nicky. Then I thought that she might have been eaten by Eddie and my pleasant lile buzz ended right there as I came crashing back to the harsh realies of life, the universe and everything.

We will soon be treated to the annual spectacle of Woods and small Groves filled with Snow Drops and Bluebells as we immerge from hibernaon to walk our dogs and children. I'm not a big fan of the Daffodil, but if you are lucky to catch sight of a field of Taffodils in the Spring, you are surely unable to stop that involuntary smile as they are one of the most cheerful flowers. Even an old missog such as I must succumb to their infecous happiness.

As we are filled with the joyous bounciness that is spring, the urge to grab the dusters and cleaning fluids will soon overtake some of us and the annual 'Sweep away The Cobwebs of Winter' fesval will commence. This oen takes me by surprise. I will wake up one day in the next three weeks and declare loudly, that I can no longer live in this pit of intolerable filth and decay. I will throw my windows wide, grab the nearest brush and swing it round the house with gay abandon. Aer a few hours, when I am knee deep in the stuff I can't stand to look at any more, I will wish I had never started and curse the Mother for her changing seasons. Aer two days and three dump runs, I will sit, resplendent, in my polished and prisne home, feeling smug at a job well done. Exactly one hour aer I have completed this mission, the family that I haven't seen for weeks will descend all at once (grandkids included) and trash the joint completely. They will then leave, and I will stand in stunned silence, surveying the damage while I reach for that huge bole of wine le over from Christmas. Upside of that is the Christmas booze clear up, which I had forgoen to do. All of those half boles of plonk now have to go. This is followed the next day by a visit to the bole bank, where my fellow bole depositors think I had the party of the century last night, but all I did was guzzle the contents of my drinks cupboard whilst singing (very loudly, and out of tune) to Les Mis and Dream Girls.

A few weeks ago, I had the absolute pleasure of supporng Letchworth Rugby Club in one of the most surreal venues I have ever visited. We played the Honourable Arllery Company at their pitch in the heart of London. Not all rugby clubs, but most are on the outskirts of a town, with views of rolling hills, woods, posh houses, and lots of rabbits. Not this one, it has a rugby pitch and a football pitch that are surrounded wall-to-wall by office buildings. Walking into the club house is like vising an old stately home. Much to the delight of the travelling crowd, the surrounding offices lent themselves perfectly to providing the most amazing acouscs which aided the baying crowd in making the most glorious noise to cheer on the lads. Letchworth have now won thirty-four games on the trot (we don't talk about the one draw) and are well on the way to a league table win and secured promoon to the Naonal Leagues. The club is fast approaching its one-hundredth season and this achievement would be the icing on the cake for them. Whatever happens, this season will be recorded in the clubs history books as one of the greatest, I for one am so proud to have been a part of that.