The Shared Garden
The allotments I mentioned in my previous post, called shared gardens here, are now a reality, with access to water laid on and each «owner» allocated a 20x5 metre space; there are18 of us. As I have found, that is quite a lot of space to fill and also quite a lot of work. One problem is that the earth is almost pure clay, which means I have had to add a lot of compost whenever I have planted or sowed anything. The other problem is that I now find that getting down on y knees and getting up again repeatedly is not an easy form of exercise for me. However I have now planted a range of vegetables and flowers and sown some seeds, although I am also planting seeds in pots on my balcony where they have a better chance of producing plants.
The other gardeners are a motley crew but all very friendly and helpful. Because the weather has been very hot and becuase many of the gardeners have day obs, most activity takes place in the evenings and ceases around 7.00, when we sit around tables outside the hut provided to store tools (and food, drink) and have an aperitif together. I find it a great addition to life here.
There is supposed to be an opening ceremony and, with work on most plots well underway it’s already a bit late. The problem, it seems, is that the cost of making the allotments available has been shared between the village, the region and the Department. So the opening ceremony can happen only when suitable representatives from all three are available. Now that is really French. We gardeners are going o have to endure considerable speech time before any drinksGardening At Home
Gardening At Home
This is my favourite time for gardening at home, so here is another picture of the front of the house. The key is that that there are still some irises and other plants in bloom but above all the roses are in full bloom at the same time as the honeysuckle and the colour and perfume is overwhelming. Honeysuckle is one of my favourite plants. One was areasy climbing up to the top of my house when I bought it and I shoved the root of another in a whole in the concrete on the other side. It now too has grown to the height of the house. People around just walk by, stop and lift their noses and you can see the pleasure on their faces. My whole house is perfumed. So the front is working wrll. With the extra work on the allotment I have neglected the back somewhat but it now doesn’t need a great deal of attention other than watering. I’ve planted a number of cuttings of flowering bushes in a trough there but done nothing much else and some plants are threatening to take over. At some oint I will need to do some ruthless pruning or eliminating and I am not good at that.
The COVID Effect
It is noticeable in the village that large gatherings, such as the pizza evenings and the 8th of May commemoration, are much smaller than in the past. Two of the formerly regular attendees at my English conversation classes have bowed out because they will no longer attend indoor events. And a noticeable number of people are wearing masks in the village, indoors or out. Several of my friends have contracted COVID and it has not been a pleasant experience but always far from life-threatening. So…..will COVID become accepted as just another type of ‘flu or will it have more significant implications? Will people readopt their formal social habits or will the damage be permanent? At the moment it is having a damaging effect on village life.
Reflections Over A Calvados On My Balcony
World news is currently dominated by events in Ukraine and the efforts by Vladimir Putin to recreate the former Soviet empire. So much for small is beautiful, make Russia great again. However that situation plays out it makes me wonder at the perceptions of those not involved in natinal power games. Trump gained power on a roposal to make America great again, Brexit was supposed to make Britain great again; but for whom?
When Britain’s power was probably at its greatest, towards the end of the 19th century or the early years of the 20th, prevalent in Britain were workhouses, child labour and prostitution and the «satanic mills». So if Britain was great as a country how did that benefit most people? Quite simply it didn’t; the benefit was, above all, for the rich and powerful, with some useful crumbs from the table for those who could see how to get them.
The rich and powerful did create monuments, estates and other great legacies to their names but ones they could easily afford and for which the general populaces was supposed to be grateful when they had access. These are generally acknowledged as good for the country and caharitable. But what did that do for the day-to-day lives and working conditions of the general populace? Almost nothing. So why, why, why will the general populace buy into the idea of making a nation great again, backing the interests of the rich and powerful, persons or organisations? When will they realise that there is nothing in it, nothing in that kind of nationalism, for them? , When will they realise that they have the power to challenge huge organisations, just as the unios did in the early 20th century? If the general populace is ever to improve its situation it has to recognise that the interests of the rich and powerful, persons or organisations, are not theirs and challenge and contain them.
