Do you ever wonder where the time went? I certainly do, constantly. When you are bored it drags it’s feet like a small child on a shopping trip, when you have loads to get done or are enjoying yourself, it’s more like an Olympic sprinter. Then there is the ‘lost time’, when you sit down to do something you having been meaning to do and then realise how long it has taken to get to that point, leaving you wondering what the hell happened there?
This is kinda where I am right now with my ramblings. Lots have happened inside my head, but just not made it into text. I guess part of it was a bit of apathy, what with all that is going on. Then there is what to start with?
Well it’s definitely wasn’t going to be about my travels! Due to all that is going on at the moment all our plans, like most others, have gone right out of the window. There was the sneaky week away whilst the boy was off on an NCS residential course, the trip to visit another BCS dragon boat team in Bournemouth, racing in Liverpool, racing in Barcelona, racing in Nottingham, the cheeky weekend away with the girls, even the annual pilgrimage to Crail – all cancelled.
The allotment perhaps? Well, perhaps. We are still digging, planting and growing. Of course we have also tipped into the annual deluge of courgettes and to a slightly lesser extent tomatoes. I keep trying to improve the layout and how I’m doing things generally. But then that too has been affected by outside forces, mainly the weather and the imposition of a ban and subsequent limitation of the use of hoses. Not great when the soil is more like dust. It has at least been an oasis of calm and escapism from lockdown, well at least it was until the inevitable politics of its management raised its ugly head. Sometimes bad times bring out the best in people, but sadly it can also bring out the worst. Personally I am just in it to play in the mud and eat peas and tomatoes fresh off the plants…… and perhaps gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries….. okay anything which doesn’t need to be washed and cooked!
The garden at home also is a work in progress, well to be fair it has been for more years than I care to remember! But, having said that, it has come a long way in the past few months. We were very lucky with our timing, ordering a new shed before lockdown kicked in.
The last shed was being held up by its contents, most of which were not worth keeping. Our flock of chickens was down to one. She was a beautiful hen, but they are flock creatures and to my mind it was sad seeing her in that big pen on her own. We let her out when we were in the garden, but it just wasn’t right. Luckily our lovely neighbours offered to see if she would like to join their ladies, it was an anxious moment when we took her round – they don’t call it a pecking order for no reason, hens can be quite mean to each other. On the whole though she slotted in better than any of us could have hoped. She is a big grey hen and made friends straight away with their grey hen, even snuggling up next to her on the perch on her first night there. She is less friendly to Nugget, she has been told off for such poor behaviour, but diligently ignores us!
All in all these are strange times indeed, it will certainly be a year to remember, for many reasons….. not all bad.
