Month: July 2020

I was feeling very anxious about making the journey to Southampton to buy my most expensive car yet, the last of the great V70 Volvo SE's. We decided to get a hire car from Frome because my current car is unroadworthy. It was a most glorious and warm day. The Wiltshire countryside is definitely different from Somerset. It is less undulating, more devoid of trees, resplendent with wheat growing...

Today morning with some clouds scudding across a wonderful blue sky we find ourselves doing weeding in the garden for the lady that we look after.  She lives in Timsbury, is about 90 years of age,deaf as a post, but a lovely personality, an innocent soul who is these days unless a dying breed - no pun intended. We had literally hundreds of chickweeds to remove and due to the recent rain it was...

This is my wife's very original way of growing courgettes without letting them touch the ground and rotting. The garden is doing phenomenally well as is the allotment; every couple of days I bring another tranche of runner beans in.  We have learned through long experience that they have to be picked while young otherwise they get stringy and unpleasant to eat; so far we are having great...

Since I bought my ill-fated successor to my v70 2.5l things have always been a bit betwixt and between. I have driven my old car in parallel with the new one, partially legally, just missing the MOT but bearing in mind that an extension was given. A few weeks ago I had to get rid of my new turbo Volvo because the gasket had blown and the repair cost would have been prohibitive. Since then I've...

Yesterday I finished a wonderful garden job in Timsbury. We started about nine o'clock and by 10 o'clock I had taken down an entire Apple tree, cut it into pieces with the assistance of Françoise and put it in a pile ready for collection. Apple tree wood is very soft and a chain saw cuts through it like a knife through butter. The same would not the the case with oak or walnut. I regard my work...

What a truly terrible pun. Today after many weeks pause, we are actually doing a gardening job for a lady who was in a rather demanding situation. Her husband, who had been living apart from her for seven years, needed his garden done and the only way the garden could be done without provoking his anger was this week while he was away. She rang asking me if I could come in to do the deed while...