Happy Friday!
This week I resigned from my temp job because I have a new, permanent job that starts on 31st May. Which is just perfect timing, as I’m running out of money to supplement temping wages and I don’t like temping, you can’t really start anything worthwhile. So a new job, a new commute on a different tube line and new things to learn starting next week, I’m terrible with change so it’s going to be an interesting couple of months!
Since last Friday, I’ve posted Sunday Music, Monday Miscellany, and an update on the allotment
Other people’s blogs:
Valonia wrote about how plans on the allotment change. And who doesn’t want a mini fruit orchard?
Sharon’s alliums are flowering. I aspire to be as good at growing things as Sharon is!
Here are this week’s links…
My parents and ‘middle Ireland’ could decide Ireland’s abortion vote. There’s some huge change happening in Ireland right now..
It’s okay to enjoy the royal wedding. Constitutional monarchies are great. Seriously? Prince Charles IS politically engaged, he interferes all the sodding time and he’s not even king, this is a justification to make Americans feel better. I can’t write a better reply to it it than this, It’s not Harry and Meghan. It’s the monarchy I oppose
A monarchy establishes inherited privilege at the heart of government and embeds patronage at the centre of power. The royals are a class act. And that’s the problem. I’m not a very passionate republican – many things bother me more than the monarchy. But as principles go it is unwavering. We have a class problem in Britain and the monarchy exemplifies it……
I am a republican and a humanist. Indeed, I am a republican because I am a humanist. I wish the individuals well and the institution ill.
What do migraines really feel like? They aren’t headaches, this week I had a headache for the whole of Monday and a considerable chunk of Tuesday but I went to work and had a normal day, I didn’t really enjoy it but I could do it. But I have some of these symptoms and it’s not fun.
Caring for a child when their parents can’t? The state takes you for a mug. I’m really not sure about this. I have a problem with the idea that I would need paying to look after the children in my family. I pray daily for the safety of my family but if anything was to happen to my brother or sister-in-law, I would move to Bedfordshire and look after my nephews. It wouldn’t be my first choice, not least because of what would have had to have happened for that to be necessary, but it also wouldn’t be a question and it might mean that money was tight but that’s what you do. It wouldn’t be a favour I was doing for Social Services, it would be my duty. It’s not unreasonable to ask relatives to care for the children of the family and I don’t think that it’s something that they should expect pay for. I’m also really tired of Louise Tickle’s bias against Social Services. Social workers are not demons, they are for the most part dedicated people doing a job no one wants to do, under huge pressure with limited resources and it’s time for some balance.
Why is M&S in such trouble? Because they stopped doing what they do well. M&S linen trousers cost £25 and last one summer, their linen shirts cost £25 and even when they are 3 sizes larger than I actually need, gape at the chest. I wear a lot of long drapey cardigans, the ones in M&S cost £20 to £30 and the ones in Primark cost £8, the important part of this is that the ones in Primark wear and wash better. The sizing in M&S is all over the place and the quality has diminished but the prices have not. This year every bloody thing has a high round neck, a statement bloody sleeve or is a terrible colour. I’m 45, I grew up with M&S I’m inclined to start there but it’s really hard to find stuff that I want wear that fits/suits me in M&S. They’ve forgotten their audience AND downgraded their quality, that why their in trouble. It’s not the internet, its the stuff they’re selling…
The Curse of Summer 2018….ripped jeans tanlines
Thanks! Any other advice? Yes. You could also try wearing jeans that don’t have any holes in them.
But holes are cool. No, they’re not. They’re cool on teenagers and pop stars. You’re an adult with three children and a comfortable job in middle management. Whenever you wear ripped jeans, you look like someone who has recently been cut out of the wreckage of a car accident.
The Lesson of Eric Greitens, and the Navy SEALs Who Tried to Warn Us. Stuff like this helps me understand the US more, but it’s a worry.
How Americans got ‘the sesh’ completely wrong. Mmm…I think millennials have it wrong too. Isn’t it when you go for one and it goes a bit bigger and the next thing you know it’s 3am and you’ve probably eaten a kebab (on the night bus home no less) and you get home for 2 hours sleep, a shower and a change of clothes and into the office you go.
Patrick Melrose captures heroin addiction perfectly – it brought my memories flooding back. This is worth reading…
You May Never Have Things Under Control, But You Can Have a Pajama Set So true, this is why I have an extensive pyjama collection. And Americans, what have you done with the y in pyjamas?
The jury is out on how many will survive, the tomatoes and cucumbers look to be in a bad way right now. I have some spare plum tomatoes that can replace the dead tomatoes and I have resown some cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and a crookneck.
I should be a better plant parent and harden them off and so on but I don’t. Apparently, being a seedling in my care is the plant equivalent of being raised by Spartans. You live or you die!
We planted the four other uchiki kuri plants in the containers, to hopefully grow up the arch! The ‘soil’ in these containers is amazing. When I first got the plot, I moved both containers to this position and it’s where we put all the weeds we were digging up, which we covered and left, the rotted down and last year I filled both containers with a bunch of wood chip and then more Wilko value compost and I planted squash in them last year. In the autumn, I added manure and the spent compost from the buckets and covered. It’s rotted down really well and I’m hopeful that it’ll grow some amazing squash this year!
We also planted out courgettes and cucumbers and sowed sweetcorn. I had three spare cucumbers that went in with the sweetcorn. When (if) the sweetcorn is about 9-10 inches high, I’ll sow borlotti beans next to them to climb up. Hopefully the cucumbers will survive and provide ground cover. The worse that can happen is that it doesn’t work!
I know that I’m going to end up with more stuff in buckets, I want to do another bucket of radishes and carrots and you know that there will be spare tomatoes. At some point I need to move that cloche and plant something there..
We did all the planting on the plot on Saturday and this morning when I went to water, some of the plants where not doing too well, I’m a bad plant parent.
I was talking to my plot neighbour T (who is always teasing me about how much work Ma does, while I just swan about planting things!), as more people are back on their plots, I get lots of comments about how tidy our plot is. To be fair it is mostly pretty tidy but what it isn’t is straight. If I had planned the layout of the plot and knowing what I know now, I would probably have levelled it first. Instead, we just plonked the beds in as we could afford them, so straight and level the plot isn’t. We decided that this adds to my plot’s ramshackle charm, I wouldn’t want it to be too perfect! Which is why I’m not bothered by the not perfectly straight new squash bed.
Last week, I took some of the over abundance of tomato plants and put them in the cloche. They were looking quite limp due to being a bit scorched so I decided to plant them out and see if they’d survive. If they don’t, I have a whole bunch at home to plant out. 
We are formally past our official frost date now, so everyone is going mental planting stuff out. I had planned to plant everything out over the bank holiday weekend, but the plants indoors are in dire need of planting out so I may plant the courgettes and squash out next weekend. We’ll see what the weather is doing.
My salad bed is beginning to flourish too. Last year the nasturtiums went bananas on this bed and I said that we weren’t planting any this year, but there are a couple in this bed amongst the lettuce!
The broad beans look wonderful but I found black fly on the tops, bloody ants… I removed the tops and we’ll keep an eye on them but I’m beginning to believe it’s just the price I have to pay for broad beads. We are about three weeks away from our first harvest so it’s going to be a race between me and them vs. the ants!
Lastly, look at that oregano
Hard to believe that it started out as a tiny little thing
Anyway, I’m feel that we are finally catching up and soon the manic watering phase of summer will begin…
It’s in a dark cupboard, and I’ll give it a shake every day until the sugar dissolves and leave it for about 6 weeks.
There was also a swan, that was not very happy to see Fred but was very pretty when Fred ran off
Next week the Woman’s Hour drama is ‘celebrating’ the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte’s birthday with Wuthering Heights. Look, you could tell me that Wuthering Heights was your favourite book, but then we could never be friends. It’s a terrible book even before you twig that Heathcliffe is other, possibly mixed race and then his behaviour has all sorts of awful readings beyond him being an abusive arsehole. Nope, nope a thousand times nope…
to this
We also put an ant killing station on the broad bean bed. Last year the blackfly was terrible everywhere on the plot so I’m trying to nip the problem in the bud by killing the source, the blackfly always starts on the broad beans. The broad beans are in flower and pod and it’s all getting very exciting.
My blueberries are looking much less stick like
and the strawberries are full of flowers that will, hopefully, translate to fruit this year.
We ordered some more lawn edging so I can frame in an area at the top of the plot for a squash bed and we have a friend looking out for pallets so we can execute our plan for hillbilly decking next to the shed. I’ve also recruited Mike, who was one of my shed builders to help me with it. He has a good eye for this stuff and I do not!
We worked hard but there’s so much more to do, at least this area is free of rubbish now. Once the bed for the squash is defined, I think I’m going to woodchip the rest the time there’s a delivery, it doesn’t stop the weeds but it does make them easier to see and pull up!
So the work list for next week, when I am all by myself (Ma is going away for the weekend and neglecting her duties which means more rhubarb for me!) looks like this.
Nic Dempsey 