Crocuses and daffodils are popping up everywhere so surely spring is not far off. But what really confirms that for me is seeing the Hockings ice cream van near the Kingsley statue at the end of Bideford Quay. It's never too early in the year for a Hockings and never really too late in the year either. Having said that, on the day I spotted the Hockings van I was walking the dog and heading for Victoria Park so I didn't stop. Even so there were a few people who decided an ice cream was just what they needed despite the chilly east wind blowing across the Torridge.
There were also a good few people in the park, mums and dads with their kids on the play equipment, some lads kicking a ball around in front of a goal and a group comprising three girls/young women and a youth ie boy/man - not a little boy, but not a grown-up man. One of the females had a buggy complete with child of indeterminate sex. One of the young women had a bottle of cider, one of those big three-litre jobs, with about half gone. They were all - apart from the child in the buggy - passing round a joint. One of the women said she was determined to get "one last toke" out of it. I suppose that shows that while we may not like the idea of mum, or big sister, getting boozed up while taking junior to the park, at least Bideford's weed smokers are not spendthrifts and like to get value for their money.
So, yes, the rotation of the seasons continues. You don't see it happening, but you can't help notice that suddenly you're a lot further forward in the year than you realised. But in the meantime, Bideford's young people seem intent on blotting everything out. Oh dear, I am getting old or maybe I'm just increasingly conscious that time is not for wasting.
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