In February, almost nothing happened. Cool weather was interspersed with days when temperatures reached 25 degrees Celsius. Actually, this winter we did not really have a freeze and so the tomato plants from last year still keep producing tomatoes and new leaves started to sprout from the base. The cool nights we have were enough to keep green peas happy, and they are so good that next year I’ll be planting them in every empty spot. Finally, the little enclosure I built for the papayas gets so hot and steamy during sunny days that it feels like Tampico in August and the plants started to flower and there is even a small papaya.

(Click on the picture to see it full size, use a back button to return to this spot.) So it was, that one Saturday afternoon in the middle of the month I went for my walk in shorts and then packed my winter gear and flew for a week in London. This was a few days after the big snow fall they had and you could still see it in the parks. Heading south of town, where our office is, finding left over snow was not a problem. It was everywhere. Felt like Montreal at the end of March.

The quickly depreciating pound and rising prices in the U.S. achieved the impossible – beer price parity. These days the 3 pound pint of good ale translates to $ 4.50 and in Houston that is pretty much what you will pay for 330 ml of rather average beer. The other interesting development was that I visited a Czech food store which Alice found browsing on the internet. It is located in Putney, not far from where she lives. The objective was to buy Czech mustard which we had just ran out of and once you develop the habit it is difficult to give up. Luckily they carried it – so now I have a new supplier. The intriguing thing is that the shop is run by an Indian family. I should have asked more questions, there must be an interesting story somewhere. Maybe next time.