Re: Self Heal Saturday
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2026 4:24 pm
Hello everyone!
Trissie, we do seem to be having a particularly early spring this year, but here in the SW of England, winter is usually "over" by mid February these days . My garden currently has snowdrops, daffodils, periwinkle, snowflakes, hellebores and pansies in flower, so it's definitely woken up from winter.
Laura, your crochet project sounds very pretty.
L.Ann, that's an interesting choice of music for DD! Yes, unfortunately, chocolate is the second most stolen item after alcohol, and it's increasingly being carried out by gangs who "steal to order". Some shops are even putting chocolate in security cases rather than loose on the shelves. And it's thought that it's the Romanian gangs that are behind it (sigh!).
Helia, unfortunately, chocolate is one of the items that has risen almost exponentially in price during the still ongoing cost of living crisis. And many people do like their chocolate.
Also, in many places, the bottom has fallen out of the illegal tobacco trade, due to Trading Standards really clamping down, and shops being closed down for months at a time, so I guess the gang leaders have seen a gap in their "market" and a way to recoup some of their lost "income". 
Dogged, you're a much braver woman that I am, doing all those technical things with your TV . I've just about mastered the most important buttons on the remote, but I've no idea what the "other" remote does!
It's been a good day. The house is mostly tidy, the sitting room is hoovered and the laundry is hanging to dry. I managed to plant all the hellebores I bought at the garden centre, so that's a good job done, and culled all the geraniums that definitely didn't make it through the winter. And I've also started calculating how many geraniums and begonias. I shall need this summer. Lunch has been prepped and Ive made a cherry cake.
Trissie, we do seem to be having a particularly early spring this year, but here in the SW of England, winter is usually "over" by mid February these days . My garden currently has snowdrops, daffodils, periwinkle, snowflakes, hellebores and pansies in flower, so it's definitely woken up from winter.
Laura, your crochet project sounds very pretty.
L.Ann, that's an interesting choice of music for DD! Yes, unfortunately, chocolate is the second most stolen item after alcohol, and it's increasingly being carried out by gangs who "steal to order". Some shops are even putting chocolate in security cases rather than loose on the shelves. And it's thought that it's the Romanian gangs that are behind it (sigh!).
Helia, unfortunately, chocolate is one of the items that has risen almost exponentially in price during the still ongoing cost of living crisis. And many people do like their chocolate.
Also, in many places, the bottom has fallen out of the illegal tobacco trade, due to Trading Standards really clamping down, and shops being closed down for months at a time, so I guess the gang leaders have seen a gap in their "market" and a way to recoup some of their lost "income". Dogged, you're a much braver woman that I am, doing all those technical things with your TV . I've just about mastered the most important buttons on the remote, but I've no idea what the "other" remote does!
It's been a good day. The house is mostly tidy, the sitting room is hoovered and the laundry is hanging to dry. I managed to plant all the hellebores I bought at the garden centre, so that's a good job done, and culled all the geraniums that definitely didn't make it through the winter. And I've also started calculating how many geraniums and begonias. I shall need this summer. Lunch has been prepped and Ive made a cherry cake.
Freddie 
