Wilf returning from his early morning boundary check

Still cold here. The sun has returned but with it a piercing wind from the north. All in all it's been a miserable winter. More and more foreign registered cars have been appearing on the roads over the last week so it looks as if the expats who live in Holland and the UK have decided to head south away from what must be an even worse winter up north.

The locals are now talking about 'the crisis' and the slowdown in the local economy.The bar in the village is notably quieter than usual as people cut back on their breakfast espresso .The restaurants around here are absolutely dead midweek and their owners are all praying for an upsurge in tourists at Easter to compensate for the absence of neighbourhood custom. Naturally, no one has thought of discounting their prices to attract tourists so I am afraid that they will be disappointed. It is interesting that the recession that has been engaging the attention of the rest of the world for the last year has only now percolated down and registered on the local consciousness. The local wine producers continue to expand but I can't believe that demand for their products from the US and the UK is going to be that strong this year particularly as they have raised their prices by 10% from last years levels. The little manufacturing companies around here have been busy selling to Germany for the last fifty years and have simply not been prepared for the 40% fall in German machine tool orders and the consequent cancellation of orders.