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Monday, 29th December
Well, I did manage to get to the allotment once while our
visitors were here, on Christmas Eve to dig up parsnips for Christmas
dinner but
then no more gardening until they'd gone and I dug up some leeks for dinner
tonight. In between was all the excitement. It started well enough with
Midnight Mass and hanging up the stockings and I did get some lovely presents
including a £25 Woolworths voucher. Not quite sure what to do with
that; buy Woolworths, I suppose? But bedtime Christmas Day was when the
real fun started when a guest claimed to have swallowed something while
drinking. Yes, I know what you're thinking but they meant something else,
something solid and sharp. Next thing they were choking. Now, I've seen
all these programmes on the telly where you grab them from behind and
lift but nothing worked so it was ambulance time. So, how many doctors
do you think are on duty in Worthing A & E on Christmas Day? Well,
I'll tell you - not as many as you guessed! The wait was 5 hours! Mrs
N rang me around 4.30 am to pick them up (she'd had to accompany our guest
as I was a little jovial) by which time I was sober again, but worse was
to follow. The fool of a doctor had only made an appointment at the Sussex
Royal ENT the next day for 10.00am so I think we got 2 hours' sleep that
night. More waiting ensued at the Royal Sussex in Brighton before the
consultant told us they couldn't find anything despite X-rays and an endoscopy.
We got back to Worthing around lunchtime and the day was rounded off by
a really rubbish meal in one of our town's department stores. (I daren't
say which one as they might sue me but it wasn't Marks, Debenhams or Beals.)
Now there's just the 2 of us again; we had to get rid of them all before
tomorrow because it's Pub Night tomorrow night and I wasn't taking them
there in case they swallowed more than beer and started the whole process
off again. See you at the pub.
Sunday, 21st December
I actually got to the allotment yesterday morning, more for a chance to get reacquainted than to do any real gardening. I did try moving a few strawberries, pulling up some old nicotiana plants and a bit of couch removal but it was still really too soggy to do any good. There were a few other souls in attendance but not many. I think these poor guys in the West Tarring Store must have been twiddling their thumbs rather than selling much stock although maybe they had a few people renewing their membership.
The past few weeks have drifted by in a haze of Christmas shopping and
card-writing 
supplemented
with a bit of domestic DIY before the Grannies arrive; my mother arrives
tomorrow and my mother-in-law the day after, staying till next weekend.
For those of you interested in DIY here's a picture of the inside of my
shower unit.
I haven't really done much gardening at all apart from painting a fence panel, a little light weeding, sawing off a broken choisya branch, lighting the greenhouse paraffin heater on the colder nights and regularly straightening my pots of pelargoniums at the front of the house as the wind seems to take a perverse delight in blowing them over at night. I don't think I'll get much done in the coming week somehow either!
Sunday, 14th December
The
elements continue to conspire against me in my efforts to get to the allotment
but in my preoccupation with the frosts and the rain I had failed to notice
just how windy it had been too until I walked down my garden today and
saw the damage it had caused. First up, an old choisya which the wind
had broken in two. Ironic really because about 20 or so years ago when
it was but a small bush my sons had snapped part of it off playing football
and in an effort to conceal the dastardly deed they cellotaped it and
tied it together again! Amazingly it recovered. I was so impressed by
their desire to make amends and their ingenuity that any thought of punishment
was far from my mind at the time but the wind had snapped it far more
effectively.
At the very bottom of the garden I have some 25ft Thuja Plicata (trees!).
The trouble with evergreen trees is they always catch the wind unlike
deciduous varieties whose naked branches the wind can blow through. And
the ground was very wet. I think we all know from The Great Storm what
happens when trees standing in rain-softened earth are subject to strong
gusts of wind. As a result one of these trees now seems to be propped
up by one of its neighbours and if it falls there could be interesting
consequences for my greenhouse. Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, my poor
remaining squash had turned black, oozing a pink goo. Time for them to
go, I'm afraid. On the bright side.........................I don't know
yet but there must be something.
Thursday, 11th December
We've had a couple of rather frosty nights recently and
they finally put paid to my begonias, yet the red geraniums in pots outside
don't appear to have been harmed at all. With a bit of luck the cold might
even have done for a few critters up to no good on the allotment and in
the borders. I haven't been anywhere near the allotment for a while as
on my bit the ground has been hard as a rock or rather soggy. Must go
soon to have a look at the winter cabbage and finish messing about with
my strawberries. What gardening I have done has mainly been confined to
the greenhouse, making sure everything is OK, covering things with fleece
and squandering pounds on paraffin to keep the frost out at night. But
my squash have really suffered. I don't know if it's the cold or the ripening
conditions but now they're coming out in postules and black patches, not
nice at all. Mind you we still eat them and they taste OK but we do cut
out the affected parts.
Last night we ate out: a five-course dinner at Northbrook College for
£20 which I thought was good value but you have to bear in mind
it's all done and served by students and some things can go a bit wrong.
In my case I think the food could have been warmer as they took too long
to get it from the kitchen to the table. (Leaving it on a side bench while
they fetched stuff for another table didn't help!) Still, we enjoyed ourselves.
It's nice to get out for a bit. isn't it? Trouble was it was the second
time in the day as our Walking Group had a party yesterday after their
walk. The party didn't finish until 5.00 pm and we had to be at Northbrook
by 6.00pm. for the dinner. The things I'll do just to be sociable! And
next I'll have to get my order in for the Association Dinner - don't want
to miss out on that.
Friday, 5th December
I got a bit of a shock today. I'd run out of paraffin for my greenhouse heater so I popped along to my local hardware store for a fresh supply (the local shop is usually a bit cheaper than some of the big concerns). A 4-litre container was what I wanted. I looked on the old one I'd just emptied and it cost me £2.75 when I bought it last year so I put a fiver in my pocket and set off. This year's price? £5.99! I desperately rummaged around the change in the nether regions of my pockets and came up with a quid to save my embarrassment. The reason? Ah well, it's linked to the price of oil which has doubled in the last year. "But it's come down again," I protest. Apparently wholesale paraffin hasn't. Well, I think my greenhouse might be a bit colder this year then. I don't want to lose anything especially the 20 year old fruiting orange tree grown from a pip so I'll get the fleece out tomorrow to give them all a bit of extra protection. Perhaps I should go to church on Sunday and say a little prayer. Oh, no I can't - I've got to go to the stores and take my potato order in.
Wednesday, 3rd December
My word! It's been a bit nippy lately. I've had to put on the paraffin heater in the greenhouse to try and protect my orange tree. Someone gave me a heater recently but I couldn't get the paraffin in as the cap wouldn't unscrew. I sorted that out today with a some grips but unfortunately I must have been a tad heavy-handed as the cap will not go back on it's so distorted. Luckily I have an old paraffin heater too which is working perfectly. You'd think it was a bit cold for outdoor gardening, wouln't you? But no, I was out there today cutting back a buddleia. I know it's not the right time for pruning them but this one went beserk this summmer and has overgrown onto the gravel path making it impossible to get up the garden without a fight, so it had to have a vicious trim.
Whitebeam Woods
Conforming my madness, I went out for a walk this afternoon - and I wasn't alone. Mrs N came too and about 15 others on a brisk 45-minute winter warmer via Whitebeam Woods in Durrington (OK, I know it's not officially winter yet) finishing up at Durrinngton Community Centre for a piece of cake and a lovely cup of tea. Well, actually I was the only one to get a piece of cake as I was first back and got the last piece but the others could have had a piece of cake if they'd been quicker. Anyway it was good training for the walk we hope to do on 1st January. It'll probably be round Findon way with a lunch stop at the Black Horse or the Gun. Keep an eye out for more details nearer the time.