Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Friday, 27th November

What a fun-filled week although, I must admit, none of it on the allotment not even to fix my recently acquired wheel to my barrow I keep there. Tuesday night was pub night but the weather didn't seem very reliable so we had to take the car. I discovered the delights of a pint of orange juice and lemonade - which cost as much as a pint of dear beer but wasn't nearly as enjoyable - and a decent cup of coffee. Perhaps the weather put others off as there were only 8 of us. A cosy little group it was; we arranged to go out for a meal together after Christmas. These sort of things happen at Pub Night if you're not careful and I hadn't even been drinking.

Wednesday night was the AGM which had a much healthier turnout than Pub Night. Full minutes will appear in due course, I suppose, but if you want a brief synopsis and a few pictures go to the News Page. Last night I went out for a drink with a pal - shandy this time as it was my turn to drive again - and we dropped in at the Charles Dickens in Heene Road. How many make-overs has that place had? Actually I think the most recent one is pretty good and when the word first got round it was very busy for quite some time but last night it was nearly empty. Time for another makeover? The trouble for me was I'd parked the car in Rowlands Road, about half way to Grand Avenue, no great distance in normal circumstances but at midpoint the heavens opened and hammered it down. By the time I got home it had stopped but I looked like a drowned rat!

Today started off with a visit to the dentist's then went downhill, or overhead to be more precise: time to apply the second coat of emulsion to the ceiling. Nothing like painting white on white, is there? During the Michaelangeloesque experience a neighbour came round and nearly wet herself when she saw me. Apparently my face had a very speckled a look. Several hours later, after I'd finished and done all the clearing up and putting the furniture back, I fell asleep on the settee. The next thing I knew it was Meridian News time and my wife was waking me up with, "Do you want any dinner then?" (Yes, I did and it tasted great. I felt I had earned it.)

Sunday, 22nd November

I escaped on Friday. The ceiling plaster still hadn't dried out properly so I couldn't paint it. And where did I escape to? Into town, shopping. I've rarely bumped into so many people I know. First, in Montague Street, it was a couple we hadn't seen for ages but who reminded me we would soon see each other again at the AGM this Wednesday. Then in M&S we bumped into someone from our walking group and upstairs in the cafe were our next door neighbours. On the way home we thought we'd pop into the new charity shops which now occupy the former carpet shop behind the Body Shop. Running one of the stalls were the Greenyers, well known figures in the local scouting community, who are trying to raise money towards the £90,000 needed for a new hut for 2nd Goring Scouts, Cubs and Beavers. Their former headquarters in Wavertree Road are now in a dangerous state and shortly to be demolished. Can you spare a bob or two? As we were talking to them who should appear but local figure, Dan Thompson, who has organised the takeover of this empty building. Dan was on national television last week as he is now a leading authority on the use of vacant shops and attends meetings all over the country. His help is sought by councils nationwide.

Not nearly so lucky yesterday - I spent the whole afternoon painting the ceiling. I'm not a brilliant DIYer at the best of times but ceilings? - emulsion drops downwards as you put it on and it was very much a white-spotted Ned by the end of the afternoon when the light was beginning to fade. I couldn't switch the light on because when I tried to remove the lampshade to decorate, the whole fitting came away leaving exposed wires so I had to disconnect it. The nearby electric shop was closed so I finished in the dark.

I have done some gardening - in between showers I mowed the front lawn and it was so windy it blew all the clippings away. Saved me one job anyway.

Wednesday, 18th November

A break in the rain and I was off to the allotment like a shot. Not much I could do really given the conditions but it was nice to get out in the fresh air without getting wet. I finished taking the rest of my bean sticks down although the wind had made one or two of them shorter. I also dug up a few parsnips to see what they are like. They look beautiful on top but the three I dug looked more like octopuses than parsnips when I got them out. Hope they're not all going to be like that. I'll wait; they haven't had a decent frost on them yet to sweeten them. I did manage to take home some usable beetroot and squash though.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that the tyre I inflated on my wheelbarrow the other day had not gone down completely but it had deflated a little and that's with no pressure on it so when I was at B&Q today (Old Codgers' Wednesday, 10% off) I splashed out on a new puncture-proof rubber tyre. Oh, I know how to throw my money about! I also had to buy a load of paint and stuff as it's decorating time so you may not hear from me for a while - unless I escape to the keyboard for a break.

Sunday, 15th November

A great week for gardening - NOT! What a lot of wind and rain! To be fair most Autumns and Winters are like that in Worthing: no snow just lots of wet. If you haven't got your digging done by November you're in trouble. For the next couple of months or so it could be unworkable; walking on it will do more harm than good unless you've got a plank and I haven't. So what have I been up to? Well, I haven't been near the allotment, so for all I know the wind could have smashed all my remaining bean poles to smithereens because it's made a smashing job of the sprouting broccoli in my back garden even though I'd staked some of them. And they've blown right over my cabbages. I have had a look in my greenhouse and see I have lost a couple more echinaceas I've been growing from seed. It's so difficult to keep the humidity down. Outside I have made a start on spiking the front lawn, a job actually made easier by all this rain. When it's dry my soil (heavy clay) can become as impenetrable as concrete so it's a bonus to find the fork going in so much easier and deeper than normal - like forking a pudding. So why havn't I finished it? Well, it's not very comfortable on your foot but apart from that you have to fit in what you can between the downpours.

I and around 40 others thought we'd fit in a walk round Parham Park in between the showers on Tuesday; you can see one of our soggy walkers in the picture above. The picture just about sums up this week. But some people never learn - I went out for a walk with another group the next day!

Monday, 9th November

Only 3 spent rockets in our back garden which isn't too bad. Just glad I wasn't there at the time. I made it to the allotment this morning with a view to mending an old wheelbarrow and taking down my bean sticks. The wheelbarrow is a big old builder's barrow and all that's wrong with it is a flat tyre so I took down my footpump and inflated it. I then put something heavy in it and wheeled it round the site to see if it went down. It didn't straight away so I decided to take down my canes while waiting. Why do I never learn? I'd forgotten to bring any gloves - loads of tools to fix the wheelbarrow but no gloves. Of course, within minutes, I had splinters in 2 fingers on my right hand and one in the palm of my left hand. I pulled them out but it still hurt (wimp!) and there was blood everywhere. Exactly like last year. So I packed in and went home. At any rate it'll give the tyre longer to go down if it has got a puncture.
I was planning to go for a walk tomorrow through Parham Park then I saw the weather forecast on the local news. I already got wet on a walk last Wednesday so do I really want to repeat the operation tomorrow?

Thursday, 5th November

Been rather wet recently so I have wimped out of much gardening activity although I did manage to mow the lawns during a brief dry interval. Having said that there has been a fair amount of sunshine as well and I have to keep ventilating the greenhouse because I do not have the necessary skills to fit the slightly incompatible automatic vent I bought about 10 years ago. Yesterday afternoon I thought we would be OK on our Obesity Week walk from the Worthing Leisure Centre as it had brightened up so much, and so we were until about half way round. Always the way, isn't it? During the 45 minutes I only offloaded 4 leaflets so was it worth it? Well, we got to walk round the perimeter of the West Tarring allotments so I was able to point to my allotment in the distance. Made getting drenched well worthwhile as did a comment from a fellow walker who said, "Well kept, aren't they?" So you see, the good work is recognised.
On the Association front, I went to a committee meeting on Tuesday evening and would remind you that:

1. Annual subs are due (must be a bargain at £3);
2. The AGM is on Wednesday, 25th November 7.30 pm in the Gordon Room. Come and have your say or henceforth hold your peace;
3. The council have sanctioned bonfires at West Tarring this weekend but please don't bring a load of rubbish from home to burn; we don't want to upset the neighbours and have this permission withdrawn.

Sunday, 1st November

Salvington Mill

Thank goodness I got the last of my spuds up before the rains came! I was quite pleased with them; I got a barrow load of decent sized potatoes from the last row which is good by my standards, probably the best I've had. Only trouble was I forgot to take a sack with me to put them in. Luckily the car boot was full of plastic supermarket bags so I filled them up. In fact it was much easier carrying them to the car than one big sack would have been and I emptied them into a big hessian sack in the shed when I got home. Unfortunately we had a bucketful of "seconds", spuds I'd managed to stick the fork through despite my careful digging but they'll still get used. In fact they'll be the first to get used as they probably won't keep as well.
On Thursday morning 8 of us went fro a walk from the Coach and Horses on the A27, through Clapham, over the top towards Findon, along the Gallops, up to Salvington Mill then over the A27 again back to the Coach and Horses. Took us nearly 3 hours but that did include a slight detour and comfort stop at Wyevale (as was) garden centre on the A24. We didn't see much in the way of wildlife apart from loads of ladybirds on some wood in the car park of the pub but we did see some other interesting things including a motorcyclist on his bike all in concrete in somebody's yard and the windmill of course. As we walked past it we were told it will be open on the evening of the 18th December for carol singing and hot chocolate, all free although a donation of around £1 for St Barnabas would be appreciated. Back at the pub we had a really good lunch for £4.95 and they serve Harveys. So why was it so empty? Beats me.
Looks like we just got that walk in on time too as the weather seems to have turned now. Don't say we're in for a wet and windy Worthing winter; that would make a change, wouldn't it?