Breaking the rules

Over the last week I have been cleaning up the garden. At times I really feel like a "strip miner" as basically everything in the garden is weeds at the moment. Last year at this time I was flat out picking and packaging rape flower buds so it is really nice to be able to get out into the garden and get it vaguely ready for sping. Unfortunately removing the weeds makes it look very barren, but by spring I'm hoping it will be back to looking good again. I keep discovering little plants that have survived under the mountains of weeds that will hopefully survive the winter when it eventually arrives.
Here in the countryside there are many unspoken rules. One of them regards the time at which you should break for lunch. Not many people actually wear watches in the garden, but there are sirens that go off at 12pm and again at 5pm to let you know that it is time to go inside. Actually because we live on the border of two towns we get to hear them twice - one is a real siren and the other is some lovely music to signal the break time. However, as I said before, the weather has been really good this year and so I try to stay out as long as I can before heading in for lunch (knowing that I will probably never make it outside again). This proves to be a problem though as I then have to explain to all the neighbours who are heading back home for lunch that yes, I will stop for lunch soon - I just want to finish this weed pile... And, yes - I did hear the siren, I just want to finish this weed pile!
I remember my husband's grandmother talking about the siren and saying that even though she wanted to finish early she had to wait for the siren. Sometimes I would see her sitting on her push chair thingy in her garden on the hill waiting for the siren to go... I hope I never become that controlled by the siren - but it is nice to have an excuse to finish some times!

I wrote earlier about my attempt to attract birds... I seem to have been successful in one way. The other day my husband discovered a hawk in our garden taking away another bird.... I guess I wasn't doing the birds any favours by giving them a nice place to play! I have also discovered that the worm farm is proving to be a much better feeding table than the bird table I made in the trees....oops!