We’d sorta planned to have an ordinary stop-at-home day today, and it did start that way. And then the ParcelForce48 man came bearing a box. “The plants are here!”
See, day before yesterday, we ordered 100 bare-root beech plants, in anticipation of making a good dense hedge along the back and right-hand side of the garden. But we hadn’t expected them to arrive until early next week, by which time Graham had planned to have the trench excavated, manured, and ready to receive them.
So, not to panic, we bathed, dressed, and girded our loins ready for a trip over to the big B&Q store in Llansamllett. The one that has a garden centre attached on one side.
“Will you be alright?” Graham asked, knowing I’d only just taken my morning diuretic pills.
“Oh, sure. Unless we get stuck in a traffic jam and then we’re in for interesting times.”
We made it just in time. Graham headed off to the garden centre area and I plodded through the store to the loo. Relief.
When I found Graham he had a trolley laden down with two giant packs each of soil improver and farmyard manure.
By the time we’d checked out I was feeling salt depletion, and begged for something savoury and a mug of coffee to set me to rights. “And I don’t want to go to Starbucks.”
We settled for the in-store coffee shop at B&Q where I had a sausage roll and a mug of black, unsweetened coffee.
Balance was soon restored and we took ourselves, the car, its slightly pongy load, and a tray of brightly coloured polyanthus back home.
“I need a pee!” I said as we pulled up outside the house. “Now!”
So Graham unloaded the car while I attended to my urgent needs.
By the time we’d finished with the daylight and, more importantly, it had finished with us, Graham had dug out well over half the trench, the beech tree saplings were safely lodged in a large pot with loose compost and plenty of water, and I was ready for my evening wine.
Busy, busy.
