After one of the longest and coldest winters I can ever remember, spring seems to be getting going at last. We now have crocuses in the garden, plus a few daffs. Yesterday, we came home after running a few errands and doing a big shop at Tesco, to find the pond literally swarming with frogs, all getting busy with appropriate springtime activities. Almost overnight, huge clumps of frog spawn have appeared, again much, much later than usual. When Andrew went out the garden late tonight with the dogs, he could hear the frogs croaking and Booty found one on the patio - fortunately the dogs just sniff them and are not specially interested.

Today has been one of those beautiful spring days that just make you want to be outside. Andrew was running in the Atlantic College 10K race, one he has done before. Atlantic College is a 6th form boarding college set in the grounds of St. Donats Castle on the coast of the Vale of Glamorgan. I attach a picture taken from the grounds, looking out over the sea, you can see North Somerset quite clearly. The views and location are quite stunning, and the school is also the site of a small arts centre, that holds concerts, exhibitions and other performances. For the race, we parked in the school sports field, then strolled a short way through the grounds to the start area near the castle. It's a relatively small race, probably about 300 competitors, with lots of club runners, so times are fast, and the field spreads out. Unusually these days, it is not a chip timed race, but recorded manually as runners cross the finish line. While Andrew was racing I sat in the garden, on a lovely stone bench, reading the paper and soaking up the sun. Then I returned to the finish area, to watch him come in in about 48 minutes, a respectable finishing time after an undulating course. He picked up his souvenir T shirt and water, then we strolled happily back to the car, during which time I took the pic you can see of the view over the Channel. A very enjoyable Sunday morning.

After a relaxed afternoon, we had some spatchcocked roast chicken while watching a couple of programmes about the formation of the solar system. Very interesting with some beautiful photography, including shots of the Aurora Borealis; one of my ambitions is to see these (along with going to Dollywood).