Gruelling gardening

I have not had much time for blogging for a few days now because I had some unfinished business in the garden and around the house. When I got into the garden the first day equipped with my trusted garden gloves and this ‘three-pronged claw tool’ (don’t know the official name for it, anybody?), I discovered that one of the cats, that come into our garden on a regular basis, had been bird hunting again. In an earlier post I accused squirrels of messing about with our garden lantern, knocking it off the iron pole and smashing it against the patio step. After that incident I have seen on a couple of occasions how a cat comes out of its hiding place under a shrub like a rocket, trying to catch birds sitting on the lantern. All of a sudden I realised how it had happened that first time, because now it had happened again with the replacement lantern ending up on the ground.

The rest of the day (4 hrs actually) I spent on my knees worshipping the Great Garden Gnome, i.e. I clawed weeds out from between the flagstones. There was just too much stuff growing there for the power cleaner that I had hired for the following day. I didn’t exactly look forward to the second day of monotonous work, and when I got up that morning I was stiff and sore but also determined to get the job done.

This time I had all the right equipment in working order, not like the faulty connection last time that got me all wet before starting even. It took me five hours to power-clean the rest of the flagstones; we have quite a few of them; but they are now all squeaky clean all the way to the street as well. Our big front step is now so bright that I recommend the wearing of sunglasses. That evening I was only happy to sit on a chair for hours at Mrs S’s departmental do in a restaurant. Getting up from the chair was another matter altogether!