Friday 7 June 2019

Rain and promise .


A rainy Friday and I put on my raincoat and cap and head out for a three o clock rendezvous . I arrive early and realise there are school gates nearby .

Various older men walk up and four times I am convinced that a man is the one I'm after . I smile and step  forward . Each man smiles back and goes on toward the school gates to pick up their child .
I resolve to stop smiling at random men , feeling sure that a teacher will come out and have a word with me if I do not desist .

My phone goes off . It is Alan . He has been waiting at the another gate . He tells me to stop put and that he will come to me .

Alan arrives and unlocks  tall ornate iron gates and in we go .

The place is so green and tranquil .He leads me along little green paths and there we are .

I am shocked . I expected the plot to be overgrown after eighteen months left to itself . I did not expect this . Buried and half buried things form mounds under grass and trailing weeds .
I trip over what turns out to be a raised bed . Alan trips over a handle and pulls out a scythe .

There is a strawberry bed in addition to however many raised beds . There is sturdy seating and a shed .Pull back the weeds and there are two wheel barrows , two watering cans , a potting bench and various tools .
The shed  is for the moment locked so who knows what's in there .

The previous incumbent has officially quit the site and has until a certain date to remove any of his property he still wants . After that date anything on the allotment becomes legally mine .

The tools and so forth do not motivate me though . There are ripe strawberries , a raspberry cane and a blackberry hedge .The plot has promise and the summer is coming on . We will see .

16 comments:

  1. Sounds perfect, especially the tranquil bit.

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    1. I like all the possibilities it offers .I am told there is someone there with hives . I like the idea of swapping some of my jars or a cake for a comb .

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    2. Poor bloke. Hives can be nasty. Ah then I thought, she doesn't mean hives.

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    3. She does mean hives and its honey comb she is after - as you know . Plus who would want anything from a man who was constantly scratching .

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  2. Love your style of writing. Can't wait for the next instalment. It reminds me of the Secret Garden.

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    1. Thanks .I just idly looked at your profile and saw we both rate the John Seymour book .Any others that might help me on my way ? And yes ! It is very " secret garden ".I am looking to unearth I don't know what and then there is the matter of the shed ......

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  3. I'm reading The Virago Book Of Women Gardeners at the moment. It was only one Euros for the paperback version in a charity show. Its just snippets of lady gardeners writings. Will post a blog about it. I live on a smallholding but still miss allotments.

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    1. Send your CV by all means and of course confirm that you look like Edris Elba and own a rotavator .

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  5. Mysterious and full of promise, this.

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