Never mind the election it's daffodils and sea shanties on my mind.

The Easter break gave way to the much anticipated journey of Gordon Brown from Number 10 to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament.

I'm a bit of a political anorak and normally I'd be getting all excited about a general election but my mind has been elsewhere this week.

The reason is I'm now a weather anorak. To me the latest forecast is now more engrossing than Dimbleby's Question Time.

I've been asked to work on a special programme which will air later this year, but without giving too much away the whole shoot is weather dependent.

I was in Farndale yesterday taking a delightful walk amongst the wild daffodils with my camera.

Whereas it had been raining in Great Ayton and I was tempted to turn back, I perservered knowing that this pleasant dale in the North York Moors has its own microclimate. As you can see those yellow blooms all looked picture perfect in the late afternoon sunshine.

It's days like that that really make this job wonderful. Full of the joys of spring there's an extra bounce in my step for tomorrow's task. I'm giving a talk at Sunderland University. I've been asked to explain just how much detective work went into a story I did for Inside Out back in 2008.

I spent several months digging around archives to try locate living relatives of a Sunderland seafarer who, as an elderly man in the 1920's, had been recorded on wax cylinders singing sea shanties.

It was like an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" but in reverse. It led to a tearful moment when the relatives heard their great-great-grandfather singing to them from beyond the grave.

It's wonderful to be able to give people a behind the scenes glimpse of what goes into making a programme.

From strolling through endless fields of daffodils to sharing the secrets of journalistic detective work it's been a very enjoyable week.

Election? What election?

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