17th May 2026

 

           Dear All,

After swimming Monday it was gardening and I planted cucumbers in the GH and squash, herbs and exhibition onions outside. In the evening we had a work party on the Green to fill in the drainage cracks which still open up during prolonged dry spells, even though the drainage was carried out over 10m years ago.

 

We panicked and covered everything vulnerable to frost in the evening, which was as well because a few things were tinged even under covers.

On Tuesday I had an appointment at the Spire private hospital to try and shed some light on how I am feeling. The lady doctor was very nice and seemed to grasp my symptoms but unsurprisingly did not come up with instant solutions. She took further blood tests for which I am waiting for results.

We actually had two showers this week – a drenching 3mm each!

I had another Travel Book club meeting on Thursday, this time discussing “The Immeasurable World” by William Atkins. It described 8 deserts in various continents. It was interesting enough but a tad long at over 400 pages. When I arrived home both Lorna and Adrian were drinking tea and Kate was rather keen to finish some gardening!

After the Tesco run on Friday we decided it was time to re-erect the electric fence round the strawberries as they are beginning to change colour. It is always a challenging job but we are getting better at it. After I finished digging the Brassica patch at the allotment as the showers had softened it a little.

We were due to entertain our former elder Geoff Barnes this weekend – he now lives in Fressingfield, Norfolk but he had to cancel as he was not well.

We went to Coton on Saturday to stock up on Tropical fish and purchased 6 Platys and 6 Silver Mollys.

 

 

 

As Over 1^st team were playing away I watched the Cup Final and managed to stay awake!

 

Best Wishes

 

 

Mike & Kate