Tag: #Allotment #Leyton_Orient

Pain is in the Brain

Allotment

A month on and everything is grown on the allotment. My cucamelons are thriving, they still have a way to go yet but it is looking promising. I have gherkins, most are about an inch long but I have one that is full size, I won’t pickle this on it’s own and I doubt it will last until the others have caught up so I have to do something with it. My potatoes got blight, but I have got some more on the go. We have had some good crops of raspberries and I have made some jam out of the gooseberries. I have hardly any plums which I think was due to the late frost, so no plum jam this year. Everything else is going great guns.

Leyton Orient

After what seems like an eternity, but was three years in total, the O’s have finally been sold to a consortium headed up by a lifelong O’s fan. The owner  of the Baskins Robbins (Dunkin Donuts) has headed up a team and they have put the team back into stable management. Changes have started immediately and we have had more communication from Nigel Travis in 5 days that we had from the Italian clown in three years. The current plan is to get us back up into the fourth division within the next three to four years, this will give us time to build the club back up after Becchetti’s disasterous reign.

I have renewed my season ticket and will be back in seat M115 again.

Apart from that things have been reasonably quiet.

That’ll do for now.

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Your baby has gone down the plughole

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote, I’ve been to Belfast, Doncaster, Coventry and now have a new boss. We are now eating produce directly from the allotment and there is plenty more to come, so this week I’ll start off with an allotment update.

Plot 8b

My courgette plants are now putting fruits out every week, and they are a good size too, my cucumbers are growing well and I will be able to start picking them this week, despite having accidentally cutting through one of the plants while weeding. I picked 1.5kgs of plums from my tree this week, the plums were quite small and this was down to my reluctance to reduce the number of fruits when we first got the plot. It wasn’t a problem though, I made plum jam with the harvest, so I managed to learn something new.

We have started pulling the beetroots and I have pickled them, this went well and I managed to walk away without inflicting myself with red hands, the beetroots will be ready in about two weeks, by then I will have another jar to pickle.

We have a steady supply of lettuces and the carrots will be ready in about a week. I will also be able to start picking the kale from next week.

I now have three raspberry bushes, a tayberry and a loganberry bush, I have planted these in a row and have them wired to stop them going wild. I have also dug up the strawberry patch, I have taken some cuttings and these are doing well. I intend to replant these in a planter which I will put next to the path that divides the plot.

So everything is doing well on plot 8b at the moment.

Family

Unfortunately my in-laws who have been in the rudest of health ever since I have known them are going through a bit of a rough time at the moment, my mother in law who recently had part of her lung removed now has some complications. Add to that my father in-law has some issues now. Lesley has gone up to stay with them for a week. It’s a shame that having been active all their lives that they are finding the simple things difficult to do, I am hoping this is just a blip and things will settle down. The rest of the family are fine, Toni has no plans in her diary to travel anywhere in August, but has got a couple of US trips in September and October, she is going to try and fit a visit back to Harlow at some stage. Patrick is all over the place in his free time, he has a car now and he rarely stays in one place during his time off.

Canning Town

My last friend who lived in the area I grew up in has finally moved out, which means I no longer know anyone in the area. It feels a bit strange, I’ve never really left Newham although I moved away more than 20 years ago. I have no reason to go there now, although I will still pop back for nostalgic purposes it won’t be the same now Guiseppe has moved to Leigh on Sea.

Interaction

Someone actually contacted me recently and asked me about the titles of my posts, and one in particular “Are you digging my grave”

The titles generally come from lines from songs, I listen to a lot of music, as I drive a lot or spend a lot of time on my own with my headphones in. The post titles come from lines that have stuck in my head, nothing more nothing less. The title “Are you digging my grave” comes from a Thomas Hardy poem of that title. The poem comes from the book Satires of Circumstance. I like Hardy’s poems, they are dark and melancholic which often suits my mood. I have two first edition copies of Satires of Circumstance and Wessex and Past & Present Poems, which were written and published between 1890’s and 1912. My favourite Hardy poem is Wessex Heights, I must be going soft I don’t think I read a poem between 1975 and 2012 and now quite enjoy reading them. I supposed that’s the difference between being forced (School) and wanting to read.

Many thanks for the message, I cannot fathom why you would read this but thanks all the same.

Orient

The football season started the week before last and the O’s seem to have carried on where they left off, with two losses and a draw. I am still quite upbeat about this as the team is, in the main, new and they need time to gel. I think there is a lot of potential providing the behind the scenes stuff doesn’t get out of hand the way it did last year. I am back in seat M115, however I am on my jacks now as my neighbours John & Dan have moved up into the gallery, they asked me to move up there with them, but to be honest at double the cost of a normal season ticket, I really don’t think the O’s are worth it.

Until next time

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