Payback

Princess of Wales Conservatory. Kew.

The last 48 hours has seen me absent from the blogosphere for an unusually long period of time.....and surprisingly I survived to tell the tale! I managed to pop in briefly very late last night but barring that not a keystroke have I made.

This unusual state of affairs was the result of the weather, unseasonably sunny and warm for the main part had the result of spurring into action a project that had been 'waiting in the wings' for some weeks.

The building PG and I live in was originally built approximately 200 years ago as 4 cottages for workers on the nearby railway. Having been long since decommisioned the cottages were sold. 5 years ago they where renovated and converted into 8 flats by our current landlord. We inhabit a flat on the first floor which provides us with stunning views but no garden. Those on at ground level have gardens. The property directly below us is let to a guy who keeps it purely as a 'bolt hole' and rarely visits even to collect mail let alone attend to his garden, which for the last year has borne more in common with the Amazon than an idyllic country extension to the dwelling.

So it was this situation that prompted myself and a neighbour to tackle the landlord on a solution to the ever increasing eyesore. As is the way of landlords he was in no hurry to spend time or money rectifying the situation but after some discussion gave us permission to effect a take over. Ok....so it's not our property but it is the environment we live in and is our home, the two of us finally agreed to take on the task.

For the main part I enjoy gardening and have missed not having a 'patch' to call my own. I am passionate about plants and horticulture in general, how many of us residing is Scotland I wonder visit Kew gardens on perhaps ten occasions a year.....I do!

The weather having taken a turn for the better my neighbour and I decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns on Wednesday morning and tackle the task before us. And some task it turned out to be. Plants and shrubs of maybe decades age and rooted somewhere near Australia were in abundance once we had cleared the ever advancing weeds, the soil was heavy with clay and we dug and pulled and swore and sweated for the entire day. For all our efforts, upon standing back to admire our progress this patch of land looked barely touched...... and so it was that on wakening yesterday morning to find yet more sunshine we set about day two.

The rewards were at last evident by the time, late in the evening, that extremely strong winds and rain called a final halt to the project, Kew Gardens it will never be but this small piece of land albeit quite bare and uninteresting thus far, is at least clear and tidy....but oh how I suffered.

I recall many moons ago teasing my mother, when she had been involved in some physical task complaining of her aches and pains and being warned to 'wait until I was her age'. So now I am suffering her warning and the payback is brutal! My back is locked into a strange position, I have muscles I never knew existed complaining loudly, my hands are red raw and so stiff even my efforts at typing are painful and I lost all but 3 long and manicured fingernails into the bargain!!!

PG nagged me into a bath last night in an endeavor to alleviate my state of decrepit-ness having taken much amusement in the state of disrepair I had fallen into. He rarely misses an opportunity to remind me of in the fact that he is some years my junior! The results of the prolonged soak were pleasing, somewhat less pleasing was waking at 3 this morning and being unable to eject myself from the bed without his assistance in rolling me off the edge!

Goddamn....what happened to this body of mine? Having been a gymnast for years, ridden large motor bikes and spent years in a physically demanding job it used to be strong. It seems but a few months since I could easily lift a 40kg bag of cement (don't ask) without any detrimental effects, not bad for a woman of 5 foot and 7.5 stone,...........oh how my mother will laugh. The phrase 'I told you so' will soon be ringing, if sympathetically, in my ears I think!!

My only comfort is drawn from the fact that my neighbour, the other member of the 'digging party' is suffering no less than I...... despite being 10 years my junior. :o)