31st July 2022

 

Dear All,

As I write this it is RAINING – well a sort of heavy drizzle but not to be sneered at as so far, we have only recorded 1mm in July. This means for the last month we have been transporting a boot full of water to the allotment each day to try and keep plants alive. I dug my maincrop potatoes yesterday as the tops were dying back – the first time ever in July.

 

 

Boot full of Water

 

Last Sunday we had a joint service with the new church in Northstowe who meet in the Secondary school. It is an attractive school and the church seems to be thriving with young families and plenty of children, Northstowe itself is a bit soulless with just houses and schools with no shops or community buildings so far.

On Monday I was in Chelmsford with three walking colleagues to watch Essex v Somerset cricket match. It was not the most exciting days play as the wicket was dead and only 3 wickets fell all day and one of Essex’s less exciting players scored 123 not out. However, it is always and occasion and the highlight for my colleagues was the Beefsteak tomato I took for lunch. I took a bite and it was so juicy that it splattered them juice and pips even a metre away! One of their wives was an English lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and when she was told of this incident composed a 9-verse poem which I am attaching. I have mixed feelings about this – it is the first time I have been immortalised in verse but there is inevitable poetic licence with the facts!

 

 

Lawrie, Ian & Rob – pre lunch!

 

 

Chelmsford Cricket ground

 

 

We had a NIAB Wrinklies lunch at Girton Golf course on Tuesday. Kate got sat next to a very boring man who only talks about Field beans so was not greatly impressed.

Our Thursday walk started at Therfield above Royston and trekked south to Sandon and Kelsall. It was a walk we led in February when several fields were too muddy to cross, this week it was quite a contrast! Every field we crossed was a mosaic of cracks. Harvest was about 60% done in that area.

 

 

Goats near Therfield

 

 

Sandon Manor Dovecote

 

 

Grand Canyon Cracks

 

Later I had a trip to Stanstead to pick up Stan the Computerman and his family who had been in Spain for 10 days. Their car was written off shortly before they left and their usual lifts could not make it. It is not my favourite journey as the airport layout seems baffling but it worked out OK despite the fact that their flight was 30 minutes early and I was still in Over when they landed.

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans and Courgettes are still cropping freely and Sweet Corn is coming on well. I have planted fennel and more lettuce this week and Kate is still watering trees on The Green and had made an experimental batch of Red Currant ice cream.

I had two photos in the Cambridge News this week – but I won’t bore you with details!

love

 

Mike & Kate

 

24th July 2022

 

Dear All,

I started the week with a solo swim as everyone else was either suffering or isolating from Covid. There were only seven of us in the pool so almost a private party! The temperature rose to 55°C in our greenhouse on Tuesday and some of the tomatoes were semi cooked! Watering the garden is OK with a hose pipe but we have to cart water to the allotment and this has become a daily task just to keep plants alive. On Tuesday there was an unusual spectacle in that all the bees on our neighbour’s allotment had come out and lined the outside of the hive in an attempt to keep cool

 

 

 Cooling Bees

 

Proof

 

Over actually got a mention on local news as the hottest spot in East Anglia on Tuesday

 

 

Anglia News

 

We went shopping in St Ives on Wednesday when it was cooler then I decided to dig two rows of 2^nd early potatoes a little early but the tops had completely died back. Despite the drought the quality was good and the yield not too bad,

 

 

Charlotte

 

 

Kestrel

 

Kate got a -ve test result on Wednesday so we both decided to walk on Thursday, it was a familiar local route starting at Conington and taking in Elsworth, Knapwell and Boxworth. Fortunately, it was a fairly cool day but Covid does seem to divert energy levels elsewhere. Strangely half of the cereal crops had been cleared and most of the rest seemed fit to cut but we did not see a single combine working. We managed the walk which was 8.4 miles this week but due to poor planning I had a Garden Club talk at Letchworth in the evening which was a bit of a struggle. Kate came with me to make sure I did not doze off! The talk was at Letchworth Golf Club in rather smart surroundings including a new display system which unfortunately did not link up with my laptop. After some time, another laptop was rustled up and fortunately I had the talk on an USB. You are never quite sure what to expect and no one had thought to mention the new system.

 

 

Screen in Elsworth church

 

 

Elsworth church interior

 

 

Experimental Flower strips in RSPB Hope Farm

 

On Saturday we drove down to Hyde Hall near Chelmsford to meet up with Esther, Emma, Mary-Ann, Amḗlie and Albert – the Hove folk staying in Hutton for the weekend. Emma’s mother, and sister’s family were also there so a fairly large gathering. We then went back to Hutton to inspect the alterations. These have made a tremendous difference so there is much more space available and it looks very smart – but not quite finished.

 

 

Hyde Hall lake

 

 

Hyde Hall Vegetable Patch

 

 

 

19 Alpha Road, Hutton

 

 

Meal time

 

Ben has been in Iceland this week which seems a sensible place to be during a heatwave.

 

 

Ben in Iceland

love

 

Mike & Kate

 

17th July 2022

 

Dear All,

The week began well with our elderly cousin’s reunion in Essex. We met initially at David’s Glebe Farm, Beaumont. David is coping remarkably well and seems to be revelling in his new state of freedom. Mary & Graham both seem very well but Anne Marie is no longer quite with things and Peter seems to be held together by bandages and elastic!

Lunch was taken at Weatherspoon’s in Dovercourt them we walked along the seas front to Harwich returning past some of the historical sights. We then returned to Beaumont for tea and more chat.

 

 

Graham, Mike, Kate, David, Mary, Anne Marie & Peter (plus Queen Victoria)

 

 

Old Sailing Barge

 

 

Old Lighthouse now Maritime Museum

 

 

Lightship in Harwich Harbour

 

 

Old Slave Thread Wheel Crane

 

I had felt fine all day but by bedtime I was running a temperature. After a poor night I got the dreaded double bar on the Covid test kit on Tuesday morning. 13 of us had celebrated Adrian’s birthday on the previous Friday night, it seems that Valerie who had just returned from Croatia had succumbed to Covid over the weekend and by the end of the week seven of us had tested +ve. One (Merv), ended up in hospital, Kate resisted until Thursday then she too subsided. I was poorly for two days with a temperature (not ideal on hot days and nights), persistent cough and runny nose. I then started to improve and felt OK by day 4 and tested -ve on Saturday. I was very worried that I had infected some of the elderly cousin’s but so far no one has felt ill. Kate meanwhile has been struggling for three days but of course refuses to become a model patient! I left her prostrate on the sofa on Friday but when I checked later she was up a ladder pruning the wisteria!

It was a good job that I recovered enough today as it was Over Carnival and we were well down on staff to erect and man the stand. We had our usual double pitch with a simple game, harder quiz, give aways for children and an area to rest and play for youngsters.It seemed to go well with skeleton staff and the rather warm weather.

 

 

Chapel Stand

 

 

Chapel Stand

 

 

Youthful Tug O’War

 

This morning we were on litter pick duty but it was not too grubby.

 

 

Arthur directing Litter Picking

 

Garden wise we have been watering every day with no sign of and end to the hot dry weather – who would be a gardener!

 

 

love

 

Mike & Kate

 

10th July 2022

 

Dear All,

So, has it been nearly warm enough for you this week? More to the point when will it rain again? – maybe waiting for the combines to get going – although we spotted a winter barley field cleared on Friday.

There were five of us swimming this week after which I patched the cricket wicket and Kate continued her currant affairs – red all last week and black, white and pink this week!

 

 

Pink Currants

 

As my potatoes are not enjoying the drought, I dug the early Foremost this week as well as lifting the spring planted bulb onions. Rotovating the land was a challenge and I needed to rough fork it over to get any penetration. The potato and onion land has now been sown with Mustard, Crimson Clover and Phacelia as green manure.

On Wednesday Kate and I went to the “Hockney” exhibition in the Fitzwilliam Museum and Downing College. I can’t pretend to admire all his offerings but some were very interesting and the exhibition had been arranged with pictures that had influenced him alongside.

 

 

Self Portrait

 

 

Le Parc de Sources, Vichy

 

 

Beach

 

 

Viewers Looking at Readymade with Skull & Mirrors

We took in the extension in Downing College and they were erecting the beginnings of an Ai Weiwei exhibition called “Cubes & Trees” and we witnessed the first item being erected:

 

 

A bolted together tree

 

Kate and I were leading the walk on Thursday and thankfully it was not too hot. We began at Graveley and took in Yelling and Papworth St Agnes. All three are quite small villages but were included in the Doomsday Book so have persisted.

 

 

View towards Graveley

 

 

 

Interested Bull!

 

 

Papworth St Agnew Communal Bakehouse

On Friday evening we attended Adrian Hart’s 70^th birthday Chinese meal celebration hosted by Kate & Gordon at Haddenham. Adrian used to teach in Over Primary and taught two of ours but more recently has been a professional gardener.

 

 

Adrian’s 70^th

 

Esther and Emma had a late call up to cousin Helen’s birthday boat trip from Maldon on Friday evening. Amḗlie and Albert both had sports days and both their teams’ won cups. This was followed by a school camping trip which happily was on a chicken farm.

 

 

Camping Farm

In the absence of a decent cricket match to watch yesterday I resorted to bread making again!

 

 

Good enough to eat?

 

love

 

Mike & Kate