…or pinch and a punch. Whatever, it’s the first of the month and never have I welcomed a new one with such zeal. What a drag February was, and although it’s just another day there’s something about this meteorological date that says it’s now spring which makes all the difference. That and the fact the sun is out, the birds really are singing and we have been sitting in the garden and watching the frogs in the pond rather than indoors and avoiding the rain. The rain! Loads and loads of it with storms Ingrid, Joseph and Kristin hitting Portugal in quick succession. The main crisis began on 28 January, when the latter struck the district of Leiria with gusts reaching 208 kilometres per hour and torrential rain that kept the country under constant pressure for more than two weeks. Many (actually tens of thousands), including our friends, lost electricity and the Internet for most of that time. Trees were toppled, major roads collapsed and houses were flooded. A group of 70 Irish workers came over to help restore power to the Leiria region and they were greeted with typical Portuguese hospitality ie a glass of Port wine along with biscuits, bread and cheese.

The River Lima, unsurprisingly, overflowed. The car park and walkway completely disappeared.

Luckily, we escaped the worst of it, not even losing any electricity, but there were a few landslides nearby and one neighbour had a bit of a saga with an overflowing septic tank. We braved the rain and put up a metal pergola in the far corner of the bottom meadow which we plan to cover with vines. This is our latest project. Otherwise I must admit we mainly hunkered down indoors.

But now Richard has had the lawn mower out and the strimmer and I have been weeding and pruning. There are a number of seeds and seedlings on the go (we’ve gone for pak choi this year), and cuttings have been transplanted. I suspect March will be a busy month on the gardening front. With luck there’ll be more to report.

Oh but I am delighted to say that for well over a week now Batty has returned to his home behind the plaque although a couple of times he stays there even during the night so he hasn’t quite settled into a routine yet. Now that the nights are rain free we shall have to start listening out for the tawny owls, they too must be welcoming the new month.

(White rabbits: a little phrase which you say before anything else on the first day of the month, it brings good luck)