Absence

August 27th Bank Holiday Monday

Gorgeous sunny day, I’d expected many fellow allotmenteers but I seem to be alone which suits me well today.

An indication of the state of my allotment is that I’ve just discovered bindweed winding its way around a chilli pepper plant INSIDE my shed. The miracle is that my seedlings are still alive despite no watering for a fortnight, the result of so little sunshine this summer since the hot and early Spring.

The thought of all there is to do makes me tired – I’ve definitely lost the plot this summer, it has run away from me, become a free agent. However it does present me with the possibility of not exactly a blank canvas but a fresh start since my sowings for winter haven’t materialised.

My heart has been elsewhere – firstly because of the unexpected, yet joyous, re-opening of doors for us as a family in Cornwall and then the opposite, the tragic death of two of our dearest friends also in Cornwall. For these reasons we have spent most of the summer there resulting in the neglect of my allotment.

Such sadness… the allotment epitomises it all, things dying down now at the end of the summer and so much to deal with. Yet beyond that, somewhere, the hope of new beginnings springing from the old, but I feel it could be a long cold winter.