What a truly terrible pun.

Today after many weeks pause, we are actually doing a gardening job for a lady who was in a rather demanding situation. Her husband, who had been living apart from her for seven years, needed his garden done and the only way the garden could be done without provoking his anger was this week while he was away. She rang asking me if I could come in to do the deed while he was in London with his daughter.

Of course we both stepped in, and took all the tools we thought we might need. The garden had not been attended to for years and was a total mess which is the sort of garden we like. It was quite clear that this woman was in trauma. She was cleaning the bathroom of her ex-and remarked that the bathroom had not been cleaned for five years. There were so many unsolved problems in her life that she could only get temporary relief by repeating her complaints time and time again. We are used to this sort of thing and listened to her with good humour.

The estate in Timsbury where we worked is basically an extended family. Everyone knows everyone else on the street and we were approached about half a dozen times by neighbours enquiring what we were doing and praising our efforts. This added wings to my feet. I love working in the community situation and the work although hard was pleasurable. I found myself offering to take down a 4 m high apple tree that served as the boundary between my clients house and next door.

The sun shone throughout the day and we had a lovely time, trying to encourage and give feedback to our lady client. We’re going back tomorrow to finish the job and this will go some way towards replenishing our low coffers in our joint account

After the debacle of our Volvo purchase which resulted in the car being crushed after 50 miles, our search for a new car has not been successful thus far. 20-year-old cars do show their age and there is always something wrong which requires attention. I don’t really want to pay £10,000+ for a newer car; I can’t see the point and I don’t want the blast of electromagnetic fields that comes with the automation in more modern cars. Instead of fretting over the whole thing, I’m just going to let the universe guide me in the right direction and meanwhile we have a semi-legal car, insured but without MOT.

I find gardening a very good therapy. I completely switch off from other things and just concentrate on my relationship with nature. Therapy without paying someone to be a therapist. What more can you ask for.