I know this is supposed to be a VATBlog but today I'm just so relieved that my spring bulbs are starting to flower that I had to blog about it! We've had such a long and cold winter that all of our bulbs are about a month behind - the daffodils and tulips are only just poking out of the ground now and normally they are starting to flower around the middle to the end of March. I planted far too many spring bulbs last autumn so that I'd be sure to get some colour in the garden early in the year, assuming that by about late April they'd be done so that I could get some summer plants potted up, but the spring bulbs seem to be so late I reckon it could be May before I can make space to get the summer plants potted up. In the meantime my balcony is literally choc-a-bloc with far too many pots, I can hardly walk from one side to the other never mind swinging the proverbial cat!
Still at least I've got colour and green out there and everything is starting to come to life at last, the little yellow narcissi and purple crocuses (yes I'm sure that the plural of crocus is probably crocusi but life is too short to check the correct spelling of every word!) are bursting into flower. It's such a relief after all the long cold and miserable winter. And believe it or not, I'm a cold weather lover - I hate the intense heat and humidity of the summer sun (when we get it) but this past winter was too long and cold even for me.
We've got a busy few months coming up with the Budget very soon plus of course the General Election and whatever changes to the VAT rules those events will bring. Predictions about about a 20% VAT rate continue to keep flying around from different commentators, nothing would surprise me. Either way let's hope that the weather continues to improve and we get more colour in our gardens!
Marie