Coming full circle
I bought the cottage 18 years ago this month. My aunt Pickles died and left me enough money to spread my wings, leave my husband and unhappy marriage and make a fresh start. The cottage was the first place ever that I’d found and really loved. Until that point I would buy a house or a flat with a small mortgage so that I could guarantee that any job that I had – from supermarket check out lady to sputnik pilot – I could always pay the mortgage. Creating the garden was my therapy. At this stage I was working for four days with...
read moreEaster
I much prefer Easter to Christmas. There isn’t the same pressure, generally the sun is shining and there is true evidence of spring. The daffodils are out, the tulips and bluebells are just a breath away from flowering. The new leaves on the trees are that bright, squeaky clean spring green. The birds wake me early. Singing to attract a mate for the summer. We have hung fat balls on the rose bush outside the kitchen window and marvel at the succession of birds that visit, wary and fleetingly to feed. Our pond is full of frog spawn as the...
read moreGardening and reading
“What are you doing?” “Pricking out and potting on.” “Which is which?” “You prick out seedlings. You pot on more mature plants. The potting on process is in stages. You can’t move from thimble to bucket – there are many steps in between.” “Do you know that you are at your happiest when you are farming?” ‘Farming’ has me firing on all cylinders. This enforced rest has been a tremendous bonus. Danny is right. I love gardening and I also love cooking. The two for me go hand in hand. Creating beautiful spaces and...
read moreAll’s well that ends well
In my late twenties I took a post graduate teaching degree. My subjects were Drama and English (subjects that I’d studied at University). I did my post grad year at Goldsmith’s College in London. The majority of the course consisted of placements in London secondary schools. One of the schools that I was sent to was in Blackheath. On my first day I was given two classes to teach. The first was described to me by their teacher as “Intelligent bubbly kids. Great fun to work with.” The second classes teacher looked grave. “These are...
read morePet insurance
No time for tunnelling today as Inca is ill. She wasn’t well yesterday and a lengthy trip to the vet threw up few clues. She was vomiting all night – white bedclothes are great for working out how much this has happened. So it was back to the vet today. Inca is insured but we have to pay the vet’s bills and then claim the money back from the insurance company, which can take months. The balance on my account was sparse so I plucked up the courage to say that I couldn’t actually pay any more bills – yesterday’s was over 60...
read moreA strange discovery
Today I decided to do my digging in the morning. There seemed to be many more bricks this time. Three barrow loads to a square meter. I was day dreaming about digging up buried treasure. Then I dug up some hefty, rotten logs. These uncovered a paving slab. Suddenly things were looking interesting. Why would someone bury a paving slab under a lawn? I prised up the slab with my fork to reveal a brick wall buried under the earth. There was no mortar between the bricks and an old drain pipe was set into the bottom of the wall. Feeling like a...
read moreBuying compost in bulk can save you loads of money
Every day, when it’s not raining or freezing, I spend an hour digging in the garden. Depending on how spritely I feel, I can usually dig a square metre. It is mind numbingly slow. Thank goodeness for my DAB sports radio which I bought to stop myself going mad when I was painting 38 Georgian windows and doors, inside and out. Four coats of paint outside three coats inside. Do the math! The reason why the digging is taking so long is that many years ago a number of pig stys and outhouses were obviously bulldozed, covered with a layer of...
read moreHurray for Google Street View
When I heard that Google Street View had been updated to include 95% of the UK, I immediately fired up the computer. I spent the day visiting all the houses that I’ve lived in, the schools and colleges I’ve attended. I also took a virtual tour of the places where I have worked and the towns where I’ve lived. It’s incredible how much extra one remembers just by looking at a photograph of a place. As Google Street View only goes on roads I was only able to see [art of the park where I played as a child. There was the long...
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