It’s a beautiful, hot sunny day here in Norfolk, and I decide to go to the allotment to harvest some spinach and water the courgette (zucchini), pumpkin and kale plants. Recent rainfall, followed by the current spate of warm sunny weather, has turned our plot into a jungle. The spinach plants have all gone to seed and are almost as tall as I am; the grass is almost waist high in places, and I’m feeling defeated. I pull up the spinach, weed around the courgette, pumpkin and kale plants (and water them), and then cut down the worst of the weeds with the shears. I’m completely knackered after less than 30 minutes work, and I stagger back home to collapse onto the sofa to recover.
This afternoon my wife and I are invited to a barbecue at her youngest son’s house so, after I have recovered sufficiently, we head over to Hevingham where we sit in the garden and are well looked after by the younger generation.