Simply glorious, yesterday, with a high temperature of fourteen degrees-a Celsius, and a blazing spring-warmed sun poking through the cloud cover from time to time, plus a gentle breeze to complete the picture. We took to the road shortly after breakfast, hoping to be able to avoid rush-hour traffic, coming and going.

When we reached the historic five-span stone bridge at Pakenham the waters were raging, in full spring melt-flood from the surrounding areas, speedily surrendering their snow and ice to the increasingly warming days.

We noted, out on the rocks, someone - looked like someone in their teens, and might have been, since it is March break and the schools are out - seated quietly, watching the meltwater roaring over the rapids. And we recalled that it was precisely at this time of year, last year, that a middle-aged man lost his footing, meaning to retrieve a boot that had fallen into the water, and was swept away by the unforgiving current, to his death. He had been reputed to have loved the rapids as a young boy, and came often to the area, for a wistful recollection of that time.

And we stopped briefly at the feed store beside the bridge, to see about their peanuts. The price of peanuts has recently risen steeply due to some difficulties in the southern United States, as rumour has it, and setting out daily caches for the squirrels in the ravine has become increasingly costly. The incredibly friendly people in the store wanted to use a small front-end loader to deposit the peanut bag in the trunk of the car. My husband, who has been doing weight training exercises at home for the past year, found it simple enough to move the 50-pound sack of peanuts on his own.

Still, a man who looked as though he was in his 70s, like my husband, who was not employed by the store, but obviously a constant presence there, drawn to sitting around to pass time with others of like vintage, insisted on helping; familiarly, and smilingly, chatting with my husband all the while.

And it did turn out to be a saving: $54 for 50 pounds beats $7.98 for two kilograms.