Like the Roman geese, our part-time pet ducks raised the alarm the other morning when the heron landed by the pond, and my opening the curtain to see what was going on was enough to scare it off for a moment or two.  So an honorable mention to the gallant watchducks, and a photo.

We had a good lunch here yesterday with a former colleague, Martin Sharp, and his wife Kath.  It must be 20 years since we'd seen each other - longer still in Kath's case - but we chatted away happily for the best part of five hours while the rain came and went.  The garden looks OK from behind glass, but I do wish we could get out and walk on it - the photo above shows how badly the grass is in need of a cut.

While the weather has prevented gardening, I've been poking about for things to see and places to go (and eat) in Berlin and Hamburg next week.  I think we can just about survive on Wiener Schnitzel and Currywurst, but the potato salad may be a bit hard to take.