Allotments are like some pets. Maybe a cat – independent but still in need of food and warmth, a dog, demanding tender loving care attention, a hampster constantly on the go, or a tortoise keen on hibernation. Maybe the pet idea is pushing it a bit!
My new raspberries have been in a bag in the lobby for over a week (due to aforesaid tooth problems) but simply will not wait! Pop over the allotment for half an hour and manage to dig in a few spoonfuls of manure and plant five.
Alan helps, but it isn’t long before the sewn up jaw pain gets the better of me and I’m yelling “Can we go home now I want to die!” (slight exaggeration!)
The allotment looked great, grabbed a few veg to take home, including some rather half-hearted cabbage like tiny sprouts. Perhaps I should have cut the tops off!
Shoved in some half dead, half priced cabbages from the garden centre, ever optimistic, moi!
Popped in half a bag of broad beans that I found in my handbag, who needs a lippy? The latter reminded me of my own poem about the contents of my handbag, kindly added to the post for those who could be bored with the rain or insane.
The contents of my handbag
A sticky blog of blu tak, felt pen, a mobile phone,
the car keys and the house keys, a lucky opal stone,
a hairbrush, and a mirror with a smiling Cheshire cat.
a diary full to bursting with bits of this and that.
Interleaved between pages are lots of post it notes.
the postcards I forgot to send, the lastest poem I wrote,
a photograph of Joshie I think he may be four
he’s playing by the beach hut. I’m sitting by the door.
Elastic bands of loyalty cards, I try to play the game,
but can never find the right one, which really is a shame.
Oh! and black bikini bottoms to leap topless in the waves,
It’s having everything at hand, and all the time it saves.
The bus pass and the tickets for courses and for shows
Wow! There’s coins between the lining, so this is where it goes!
They say the contents of your handbag. reveals the person that you are
If this is so, I’ve lost the plot and won’t go very far!
(More light verse under ‘light verse – see header – I run the ‘The Open Art Cafe’ poetry pop in for aspiring poets)
Ann Perrin 