The First Snowdrop

So far this winter has been wet, windy and mild.  There have been reports in the newspapers of early daffodils and the lawns and weeds keep on growing.  Here it has been very rainy, but thankfully not flooding as some areas of the country have experienced.
I have not managed to get out in the garden very much in recent weeks.  It feels like an age since I last had a really good weeding session.  It keeps being very wet at weekends, which is the only time I have to garden most weeks.  When it has not been raining (and also when it has been) I have been gadding about seeing friends and family.  I am not sure that I have really done anything worth talking about outside for a good four weeks.  As you might expect this is making me now start to twitch as I need my time outside.
This week is turning out to be not really any different.  There was a brief pause in the rain this Saturday morning but my time was spent mainly chatting with the man who was fixing my roof.  I did, however, manage to get a good wander around the garden.  I managed to undertake the necessary garden inspection that at least keeps me in touch with what is going on at ground level.
and look what I found, the first snowdrop of this winter.  It is very early and also very welcome.  It raised that smile that only plants performing at their best can raise.  The added joy to seeing this snowdrop is that it is one of the ones I bought from Little Ponton Hall last February when I was in the midst of my snowdrop visiting.  So it brings with it the smile of a happy memory and the thoughts of a visit again next year.
We have been forecasted a long cold winter, so I view the thought of a very cold January and February with some dismay.   If I am allowed to put in a request then please can we have some cold to kill the weeds and some slugs, maybe even a snowday home from work.  This would be good but please not too much of a long lived arctic blast.  The weather pixies are notoriously  tricksy though and will do what they want to do.  Time will tell.
A recap of last year's snowdrop odyssey can be found here: http://www.blackberrygarden.co.uk/2015/03/the-snowdrop-odyssey-ends-at-home.html