Well, this is vexing. I wrote this post and pressed the buttons and sat back as it loaded. I had added (Part 1) to the title, but when I switched on to write Part 2 I tried to link it to Part 1 and found it wasn’t there. This means that, for the first time in 72 days I have failed to post.
I am not happy. Ah well…
It was a day off today, and instead of making me drive to a distant tourist spot Julia allowed me to relax with a short trip to the Mencap garden.
We managed to fit in a Harvester Unlimited Breakfast on the way – so it wasn’t an entirely bad start.
At the garden, instead of making me walk round and look at things, and probably enjoy myself, she allowed me to do a number of jobs including refilling bug boxes (using hollow stems from the scabious we’d cut back a couple of months ago) and putting some bird boxes together.
I fear I may have seemed a little ungrateful for the opportunity to spend our day off working for an organisation that won’t allow me to volunteer officially. (For those of you new to the story I’m not allowed to volunteer to work with my wife, as I’ve been doing for the last five years, because of “conflict of interests”.)
We had a fig each after that, and I took some photos of the vine leaves.
It wasn’t one of my better days, though building nest boxes is always a good thing to do. So is eating fresh figs.
After that, we returned home for a cup of tea. I downloaded photos and, whilst snoozing happily in my chair, dreamed of Derbyshire.
At that point Julia demonstrated the depths of depravity to which a wife can stoop, waking me up to remind me I’d said I’d give her a lift to Wilkos to buy paint for nest boxes. Obviously I’d meant I’d give her a lift if I wasn’t asleep and it wasn’t too close to Pointless. I don’t ask much from life and a snooze and a TV quiz seem quite modest requirements. So does freedom from being woken up to go shopping.
We went to Arnold, and I took some photos from the rooftop car parks at Wilkos and ASDA (who are currently renovating their car park). They aren’t great photos, but they didn’t offer much in the way of scenery. The main theme is Rain, with a secondary motif of More Rain.
Oh and the figs, yum!!!
Yes, they were good. 🙂
Lovely photos! Glad you got to help your wife , even if unofficially! 😀
🙂
Oh, that photo of the leaves and berries -green, gold, red against the gray-blue background – just beautiful!
Thank you. I seems to work, which is good for a shot snatched from the roof of a multi-storey car park. 🙂
Very nice pictures! I too, am surprised Mencap think there would be problems with a husband and wife team. Then again…..
We had a visitor to our church last week who came from Arnold.
They get everywhere! 🙂
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That rain theme is strangely familiar. Do you actually get bugs in your bug boxes?
We get quite a lot in the ones we make in the hedges but none in these – partly because they are put up where they look good rather than where they are going to attract insects. We are hoping to remedy this when we put them back.
I look forward to many happy bug photos.
In that case I will do my best to take some.
Fresh figs!!!! Oh, I am jealous. Actually, sounds like a pretty good day despite the chores you had to do. As for note being allowed to volunteer…stir floors me. A conflict of interest? With what?
Haven’t a clue. I’m doing an hour there tomorrow before people arrive – more nest boxes! 😉
So very weird! You’d think they would be thrilled to have you.
“Thrilled” might be coming it a bit strong, but yes, you’d think they could have used me. 🙂
The conflict of interest thing seems odd, especially since you are volunteering.
I was amazed to be turned down. Sometimes life can be surreal. 🙂
Although our one fig tree has 6 figs on it, I don’t think the weather will hold long enough to ripen them.
I still can’t believe we are growing figs – they seem to have become very popular in recent years.
Your photographs of the garden are delightful.
Thank you. 🙂