landed!
Ellie started barking, I peered around the corner of the Wrenery and there at the gate were the bearers of good news. The minute I clapped eyes on them I knew. My cheeks puffed out as if a shot of helium had been judicially applied to my left lug.
‘Come in, coffee, tea, cake, thirty pieces of silver? Is it what I think it is?’
With a gentle nod of the head they indicated that yes, indeed it was exactly that.
Coffee was duly brewed, generous lemon drizzle portions were cut with me all the while thinking how pleased I was to have homemade cake to offer. The normal offerings would be a stale digestive biscuit, overlooked and unloved lurking in the biscuit tin.
Regally sitting in my King’s chair I awaited the proclamation. A lady had definitely decided to give up her full size allotment, it was mine if I so desired.
If I so desired?
Desire was coursing through my bod the rate of which reminded me of the good innocent old days of lust!
Waiting with not a small degree of impatience as the ritual of cake coffee and small talk was adhered to, we were duly escorted there to walk the plot. I watched in wonder as the key was slipped into the lock of the gate in the ancient wall and through into the magical allotment world beyond.
Well to say I was pleased was the ruddy understatement. The plot was all and more I could have wished for. The sort of higgeldy-piggeldy planting I love so much. A shed, a tree, raspberries, rhubarb, compost bins-a-go-go. Insect friendly flowers, the whole kit-kaboodle.
Now I wait, for an email from the lady to decide on her timetable and hopefully her accepting my offer to help her to tidy up in readiness of the official hand over. She, I sense is a kindred spirit and will be happy for me to carry on her allotment.
Watch this space...
Congratulations! Looking fwd to hearing about your adventures there, I've a feeling it will be "interesting " :)
ReplyDeleteChristine
Thanks Christine, needless to say I am busting a gut to get cracking, or at the very least touch base with the lady who hopefully will know I am happy to follow in her gardening wellies...
DeleteLX
Oh that's brilliant news! It happened faster than I think we all anticipated! Wellies at the ready then. No slouching through autumn for you! Sounds absolutely perfect for you. The universe was listening!! xx
ReplyDeleteI could hardly believe it MG. In just 18 months too. There are now 21 on the waiting list. Trouble now is I need to make contact and not a moment too soon, the old me would have been agitating, now with judicious advice from the old man I do need to show a little restraint. I can see exactly what he means although I hate to admit it!
DeleteLX
When you get it, plant garlic!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. Ordinary and elephant.
DeleteLX
I had to look up what an allotment was, just to be sure. Happy gardening!
ReplyDeleteA British institution. It is so interesting to see what different people make of their patch. Flowers, vegetables a mix of the two. Summer houses, sheds, greenhouses, maybe a pond. A celebration of man tilling the soil.
DeleteLX
I grew up in England and always think of the allotment as a place for the man of the house to go to on Sunday morning.
DeleteHe would meet up with his mates, put the world to rights and most important of all be out of the way while his wife was cooking Sunday dinner which was eaten mid-day. Woe betide him if he wasn't home in time to carve the roast!
Christine
That pretty much summed it up in the olden days! Meat cooked to medium burnt, vegetables boiled for 20 minutes and Family Favourites on the radio, followed by Billy Cotton’s Band Show. Allotments of today are growing very different produce globe artichokes, lemon grass, rainbow chard and the ubiquitous bloody curly kale! All terribly trendy...
DeleteLX
You are so excited!
ReplyDeleteExcited? I am up at 4 am with the excitement of it all tapping this out, that’s how much I can’t wait to get cracking! Exactly like a child at Christmas. I’ve already been told off this early in the day, no worries, water off a duck’s back!
DeleteLX
Very good news indeed - have fun (don't know why I'm saying that as it's obvious that you will)!
ReplyDeleteTo say I am pleased would be the ruddy understatement!
DeleteLX
Excellent news! Will you be able to take Ellie with you to the allotment? She could help with the digging!!
ReplyDeleteI can, however not off the lead. She will be pleased just being there.
DeleteLX
That is most excellent news indeed. Do you have an appropriate Land Army outfit?
ReplyDeleteSilly question... ;-)
My derrière in khaki? Oh dear me no, the last thing I want to do is scare the natives. They are becoming restive enough as it is. Tin hat might be more appropriate.
DeleteLX
I almost fell of my chair seeing the good new written!
ReplyDeleteI know how excited you are, I felt the same way when years ago I got the good news that I had secured a garden plot. Last year I gave it up, my energy is not what it used too be.
Goudhurst is my kind of garden!... I still wonder why the move to the coast?
I'm Happy For You!!! Gardening is good for the soul!
Big Hug for you.
I still wonder Moni and I could cry at the thought of walking away from a garden I had shaped from a bramble patch. The allotment will work its magic of that I am very sure. It will soothe away all the raw edges, I think it will be mine in December or at the start of the new year. A good time to start: a month or two to plan and not rush in doing lots of things I would live to regret!
DeleteLX
I'm reading this with tears in my eyes. So many decisions we made and wonder after if they were the right one? All we can do is moving forward!
DeleteHow true that is and reading your lovely comment has brought tears to my eyes too. How something so simple as a garden can cause such a wild variety of emotions is truly fascinating. My heart physically hurts, yes real pain when I think back to the wonderful riot of madness I created out of my cottage garden. The allotment will soothe of that I am very sure. BIG horticultural hugs dearest chum...
DeleteLX
I'm watching this space - you bet! With bated breath. When the photo of your Goudhurst garden scrolled into view, I thought for one wonderful moment that it was your new allotment . . . . should have known better. I'm as excited as you to see when, what plans you have, how it will look over the next year, etc., etc. GO, GIRL!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rambler. I am already thinking the old school don’t know what lies in store as the key to the gate through the magical doorway gets gently placed into my grubby mitt. The old guards’ pacemakers will have to be reset, methinks. Now I wait with a head full of planting schemes hardly containing myself...
DeleteLX