Back at the garden

Today, we spent the whole afternoon in the back garden after Louisa came home from school. This was when I thought I couldn't bear to step into the garden again. You see, I had put in a lot of effort to make it the way I wanted in our second year. It was sheer hard work. Lots of digging, laying a path, creating flower beds and a small patio. Problem was the garden's lawn is mowed by my neighbour who is the university's head ground's man and he's also in charge of cutting the hedge. In simple terms, he's a gardener. Trouble is the hedge doesn't get cut very often and it grows very quickly in spring and summer. There were many times I had difficulty getting into the garden so I went to buy a shearer just so I can cut the hedge around the entrance to gain access. I'm fine with that. Why should I be complaining when I have someone who mows the lawn for me right? But I'd rather not. Almost everytime he goes into the garden, something will be damaged or destroyed. He doesn't bother with the toys lying around or the plants that I grow. Remember this? The most recent damage happened about 2 weeks ago. I keep my clothe pegs in a bright pink box, slightly bigger than a shoe box. He must have either stepped on it or mowed by it coz the box is broken, lid some 10m away and the pegs are all rusty and dirty. The box used to be at the side of the garden, close to the hedge. I also realised he had removed all the paving of the footpath and thrown them aside. These are the reasons why we didn't spend much time in the garden last year, not so much of a rubbish summer weather but more of not wanting to see the damage.

But this morning, I forced myself to go in there to hang out the clothes to dry. Suddenly, the interest to spend time in the garden was rekindled. The girls will benefit from it I thought. There's the climbing frame, a sand pit, the children garden furniture set etc etc. Why let a silly man stop me or rather, us from enjoying the lovely weather outdoor?

So after Lavigne came home from school and had her lunch, I brought her out to buy play sand. Luckily I rang a few stores beforehand to check if they have it because my first 2 choices ran out of stock. So in the end, we went to Tesco Home Plus at Staines and bought 2 bags. So while the girls were playing with the climbing frame and sandpit, I washed and cleaned the garden toys and chairs, repaired the parasol and tidied the place up a bit. The plants are all gone except for the lavender and another one (can't remember the name) which has grown quite big and has many small flowers. I'll probably move some of the potted plants from the front garden to the back. If I'm lucky enough to be at home the next time my neighbour mows my lawn, I'll quickly nip in and remove the pots before he does something funny again.

Oh and also, BBQ! Open invitation to my friends who are interested.