You perhaps associate the word ‘guerrilla’ with something wild and dangerous, but guerrilla gardening is something rather different.  Around here though it is part of an increasing frustration at the slow progress or inaction of those in authority. Because of the recession the local council has had to cut back services – although not pay for its many officials. One of the first thing to go in this ward was planters or rather their contents. Bright, sometimes gaudy, blooms that brightened up the area, especially in those places where individual gardens are few and far between.  It was agreed more than a year ago that the actual planters could be used by local people to grow crops. Then came the frustrating bits – you have to have insurance, you need a licence, soil must be tested for toxins and all the rest.  In the meantime we’ve had an election and many councillors have been replaced. And so we had to start negotiations all over again – with no effect whatsoever..

In one of our Wednesday discussions on Skype we were talking about the pros and cons of having a royal family, and a few of the participants weren't sure what the duties and powers of the British royal family are, so I've cobbled together this explanation, which may inform, or confuse you.  The monarchy of the United Kingdom (commonly referred to as the British monarchy) is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories.

A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution. This form of government differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution.  Yes, this means that England does not have a written constitution, in fact it's a bit of a political hot potato.

If you were to look out of the window today you’d see the sun shining brightly. It might even seem warm. But just take another look, and listen carefully too. Trees are bending and just about everything that isn’t tied down is bowling down the street. Today is Thursday – the day we all leave our rubbish out for the bin men. Unfortunately the wind has been howling since about 2 am. – and most people put their rubbish out last night.

Make your February 14th extra special this year.

We don’t have the largest house in the village, but it is bigger than some. Before we bought it we thought it was quite spacious and at least as big as the last one.  There was only one feature we would miss, and that was the large utility room we had had previously, but that was OK, there were several out houses with space for tools, garden bits and all the rest.

Contrary to what you might think when listening to older relatives recount stories of past Christmases (you know the ones, where they tell you about the good old days and explain that things are not quite like what they used to be) the festive season has indeed changed. Things are not the way they used to be, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, wouldn't it be terrible if things always stayed the same?