Sunday 27 December

In Holland, the designation for Boxing Day is "Second Day of Christmas" (translated directly). December 27th, today, is increasingly referred to as the Third Day of Christmas. This naturally causes a lot of confusion with Anglo Saxon readers, who think of the Twelve Days of Christas, culminating in the Epiphany on January 6th. Enough of that, therefore. It is an overcast but fairly mild day, with temperatures currently at +6C / 43F. The result is a rapid snowmelt, with only about 5 cms remaining of the 20 cms I found on arrival here on Wednesday. A belt of rain is moving in from the west, but I'm not expecting that to be here much before sunset (4.30pm). It is a quiet Sunday, with my uncle calling round for lunch. The bluetits have been inspecting the nestbox outside on the wall, a wee bit ahead of themselves, I think. Full of the joys of spring, with winter still in full control.