New look

As regular visitors will no doubt have noticed, I've revamped my blog!

Inspired by all those lovely, colourful blogs out there and needing something to do on a bitterly cold, miserably grey afternoon, I've been playing.

There are new colours and a new font. I'd be really interested to know what you think of it. Please do post a comment - in favour or not...!

I couldn't quite summon up the courage to go for a completely new template - thought I might lose all those previous posts. Maybe this was wise. I somehow lost a complete new post in the process of change... at least, it appeared for all to see in a strange format for about 5 minutes and my attempts to remedy the situation sent it to irretrievable oblivion. Apologies to those two visitors to my blog who may have logged on in that time! It will be rewritten and reposted in the next day or two.

Photograph taken by Telegraph reader James Shorter
and posted on the website

Talking of cold, grey, depressing weather, I guess we are lucky in this particular part of the UK. The huge snowfalls elsewhere have been dramatic and unseasonal. The month is winding itself up to be the coldest March for 50 years and farmers are worried.

One source of cheer is a lovely series of pictures - including the one shown here - to be found on the Daily Telegraph website for 24 March. Just heard snow drifts up to 18 feet high have been recorded in the North West and many parts of Northern Ireland and the Isle of Arran have been without electricity for days. We are indeed lucky here....

PS Funny now I look - the background to this new look blog is grey. It's obviously seeped into my psyche even more than I'd realised!