Country diary: While I was in hospital, spring sprang

Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: The lambs are stockier, the dandelions have taken to air and, for the moment, my local walks are shorterIt was a beautiful evening. The domed hills south of Aberaeron were rendered in warm hues by the last of the sunset, the light breaking below the layered cloud casting long shadows of trees and hedgerows across the fields. But turning eastwards at Synod Inn reminded me that this was no casual evening jaunt, as my son drove me into the gathering dusk to a hospital a hundred miles distant - the unexpected result of a sudden phone call from a concerned consultant. A couple of weeks later I am back on my home turf, chastened and facing some new and uncomfortable realities - but with renewed respect for the good folk of the NHS, who may just have saved my life for the third time.In my absence, spring has continued unabated, with the lambs noticeably larger and stockier than when I left. At the margins of the lane, the celandines have almost been displaced by the large, sturdy flowers of the dandelion - some of which have already set seed and begun their familiar, if not always welcome, aerial dispersion. Continue reading...