Gardening bore
128. Goodbye, February
Gawd, I’m still cringing about that Oscar screw-up this morning. How awkward was that? One of the benefits of getting up so early in the morning (yes, we’re still doing that) is being awake for the last few awards of the night, the big ones. But I really wish I...
125. Spring tease
Hello and a very happy February to you. How is it for you so far? As is often the way here, the weather has changed with the flip of a coin, and we’ve just had several days of warm (as in, above zero), sunny weather. This coupled with a little bit of weekend...
114. Should’ve worn my dungarees
Lordy, it’s been a while since I last wrote. Now, what have we been up to… Claire 1 – 0 Goats A herd of goats broke through our fence and trampled around our garden. ‘Help me,’ cried Rob, as he struggled to round them up (and I just stood there taking photos). ‘Er,...
113. Seasons and cider
Isn’t autumn the best? I love the change in temperature, clothes and food. I get strangely excited by getting out my favourite jumpers, wearing woolly hats again, the first lighting of the woodburner, harvesting squash, making toad-in-the-hole. It’s like living in...
109. Tomato? Tomato.
When I was a student, I read a play called Blue Kettle. I don’t remember much about it except the words ‘blue’ and ‘kettle’ began to randomly replace other words in the dialogue until, by the end of the play, ‘blue’ and ‘kettle’ were the only words left. Literally...
107. It’s all gone a bit Pete Tong
We had the most unholy storm last Friday. I’m talking hailstones the size of golf balls, no electricity, water running down the inside of the walls, a foot-deep torrent of water running down the street kind of storm. (‘Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living...
105. Back to reality
When I was much, much younger I worked for a big company and had two line managers. One I admired very much from a work perspective but, at times, she could be really difficult to get along with; the other seemed a nice person but she just wasn’t doing a great job....
102. Now you see them…
You know when you stare at a magic eye picture for ages and the image finally leaps out at you? That happened with our tomatoes this week. We were sure there weren’t any growing on the vines yet (very disappointed we were too), then we realised today there are tons...
97. Photos from a chronic gardening bore
Day 4 of the blog challenge, in which I am trying to blog every day for a week. I wouldn’t say I’m running out of words yet. Not really. I just wanted to share some pictures with you, that’s all. Totally not cheating. The sun has returned! Fru fru...
92. Stuff that’s been happening lately
I have been driven mad by rain. Too mad to pull stuff together into a cohesive post. Instead, I give you the imaginatively titled, ‘Stuff that’s been happening lately’. If you need me, I’ll be under my duvet. Isn’t the weather just awful? I shouldn’t have...
91. Switching on spring
I don’t want to be one of those awful English people who move abroad and complain about the heat, but (she says, limbering up to complain about the heat) … it’s 30°C here today. Thirty degrees! In Bulgaria, spring often starts like the flicking of a switch and it’s...
90. Oh, ye compost bins of glory
Bow before the most majestic compost bins in all Bulgaria. Bow, I said. Why aren’t you bowing? Oh, fuck it, here they are: Compost bins of glory. Look, I know compost bins aren’t all that exciting, and I understand I may be pushing the envelope in...