Refreshed with a spot of good pub brunch/lunch, amid much good cheer (including meeting his lovely new sweetheart), I made my way to meet up with my sister-in-law in High Barnet and to the rounds of picking my niece and nephews up from their respective schools. It was very good to see them all - and I was indoctrinated into the important sport of foosball (sp?? - table-top soccer with spinning rods of attached 'players') after arriving at the house. My brother Will arrived not long afterwards, and after a good dinner, cleaning up, and watching a show on the telly, I was ready to drop into a profound slumber, which I did promptly when my head hit the pillow. I did not wake up until the next morning, when everyone was sitting down to breakfast. (After nine hours of sleep).
Happily, the weather was on the warm side, if a little damp and cloudy. As far as I was concerned, this was all right. Especially since that next morning (Saturday) I got to have a somewhat unexpected early start on my gardening adventures(!). It turns out that my brother and his wife had just had a number of trees removed from their back garden (newly acquired with their newly purchased house in August), and the remaining brush pile from this operation was impressive - taking up an entire corner of their future garden space. I was a timely extra pair of hands, and we all set to work that morning breaking down as much as we could into manageable bits to fit it into the bins. Much of it was holly, and prickly, and because of the dampness in England - fairly mossy, too. It was fairly monotonous work, but we fell into a rhythm, and managed to put a big dent into it. I was quite happy to help get the garden down to more of a 'clean slate' state - and will feel good about that contribution when it starts to take shape, and grow into their outdoor retreat in suburban London. (My sister-in-law - who is fairly new to garden design and gardening on this scale - is in good hands with this project, as she has joined the local gardening club that gives support, advice, and encouragement.)
In the midst of this enterprise, my 4-year old nephew started talking to us about how boring it was doing what we were doing. So then I began to tell him how things that can be monotonous (but are necessary) are easier and take less time the more people there are doing them. I mentioned how talking with people can help to pass the time, too, and makes it that much more fun. Then I realized that talking to him had helped the time pass more pleasantly, and when I mentioned that, I think he may have understood what I meant (...maybe? :-).
One night at dinner, we joked about how I was adding another kind of gardening exchange to my adventures. In the typical love-of-word-play fashion of my family, we came up with several possible acronyms for names (as opposed to 'WWOOF'). The favorite (and most appropriate to share here) being "BURP": 'Barren Urban Regeneration Program.' I'd say this new scheme went well, and is quite satisfying for both parties - any help there at this point makes a difference, and I'm sure is much appreciated! So, will there be another BURP in Katy's future, when she passes through London again on her way back at the end of March? What other outdoor and gardening adventures will she find along the way? Stay tuned, good readers, to find out... !
No comments:
Post a Comment