Lockdown Diary - Saturday 9th May 2020

Forget the usual Saturday bullshit, take that as read. It's all done for another week, PTL!

I'd forgotten about it, but the guy who normally does our hedges and so forth turned up this morning, as agreed, and ready to do the usual.  He always does a really good job and trims back everything that's overgrown and takes away all the trimmings of which there's usually a lot, but somehow I begrudge paying for it, old skinflint that I am.  As I sat back and reflected on how much he was doing, I thought, 'Nah, that is money well spent' - it would take me a month of Sundays to do the same, I couldn't get rid of that much foliage via the garden waste bin service and frankly I dislike gardening (what's wrong with back to nature) so much that cutting the lawn or digging holes for someone to plant stuff in is about as good as it gets. Leave it to someone who gets pleasure from it - sadly that used to be my wife, but it's almost 10 years since she's been able to do any gardening.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being in, and looking at, a well laid out garden, just not enough to actually spend my life doing it.  Life is too short.

Good.  Now I've got that off my chest, I can move on.

Change of plan, trimming wise.  We have an island of tree/bush in the middle of our lawn which, over the years, has got choked and overgrown.  We also have a palm tree shrouded in ivy which is gradually encroaching on a healthy cherry blossom tree.  Both of these have been a problem for some time now.  I've been loath to do anything about them because they were things my wife planted, years ago. I always have mixed feelings about changing things in the house or garden, because I can't talk them through with her, so there is always the nagging suspicion that she'd not like the changes.  Somehow or other I have to reconcile this with the fact that we are now the ones living in the space (indoor and outdoor) day to day, which means things need to suit the way things are now, but for every change there is still a lot of soul-searching. I've been discussing these changes with the gardener for several years now, and today he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  

To cut a long story short, the palm tree and the central island are now gone.  I do have one big piece of work to do, though, and that is to clear all the ground cover that was growing underneath/around the bushes that made up the central island.  He's suggested weedkiller then digging it over and sewing grass seed.  I'm thinking that may be a good idea, provided the weedkiller is not too toxic to wildlife and the majority of plants. I think I should let the idea sink in for a bit. I'm wondering if it might be better to clear it the old fashioned way, trouble is that means I'll be doing gardening. Catch-22!

It's about time I read the papers as I've not found time to look at them, so far, and, worse than that, I discovered I've not finished reading last weeks Observer review section. Back later!

I honestly have no idea where today has gone, not that I've got nothing done, more that I've not found time to do much that I wanted to do, for myself, which, admittedly, happens quite often.  Kind of academic now, anyway, as I've cracked open a bottle of wine, so 'getting things done' has flown out the window.

Son #2 has offered to 'make' tonight's dinner and who am I to deny him the opportunity?

Son #3 chose tonight's film, 'The Big Short', which is about how the financial crisis of 2008 began in America.  I have to say prior to watching it, I thought I'd be bored out of my mind, but preconceived ideas and all that, it was actually very gripping and, despite meds and alcohol, I remained awake for the entire 2 hours or so of it. At the end of it I felt a sense of anger that so much damage was done to ordinary peoples lives by a bunch of people who were getting rich without caring what damage they did and, worse than that, most of them go away with it, and, as here, the bastards who caused it were bailed out by the very people they'd been screwing. And we let them do it, here and there! I'm stopping now as I can hear one of my sons fetching my soap box.

Post-film and aligned with my current mood, I've chosen 'When We Arrive', by The Cowboy Junkies from the album 'All That Reckoning'.

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