I am forced to either walk more slowly or walk less distance - preferably both.

 Nothing.    Nada, zilch, nought.

The Brits do seem to have a greater tendency to discuss meteorological conditions.

It all seemed very skilful to me (though my knowledge of tree surgery is quite limited).

I know listening in on people’s conversations is impolite - and I know that sometimes I get ‘the wrong end of the stick’.

“More biscuits” is one of the best phrases in the English language, 

No-one seems to be bothered if you do nothing but lie in the sunshine. 

No doubt this will later involve lots of men and machines disturbing my peace and costing my beans a lot of money.

Spring is making a poor attempt to break through.

It shows that human beans are inherently flawed - especially when they group together within a formalised, structure with a common purpose.

Then after a couple of days - and well-heralded by the forecasters - the temperature rose by several degrees.

So, though they think they are manipulating me, as usual it is simply me manipulating them.