The quiet life

The last few weeks have been marvellously quiet. I have set out to do very little other than some mild gardening, and have been spectacularly successful. Mostly of course I have been at work, I am hoping that the summer might bring some respite from the grind - when the important people all go on holiday this bizarrely coincides with a drop-off in super-urgent tasks that need doing. It helps that a great deal of Europe just disappears to their houses in the countryside or to the beach. I have two coping mechanisms with which to deal with intense periods at work, and I am guessing you know them both already.

The first is to go to an airport and bugger off somewhere. The trouble with this approach is that I usually return even more shattered than when I left. I have been feeling pretty knackered recently, and so I'm actually taking a break from going on holiday and staying at home for the next two months. The second tactic plays very nicely to this, as I just potter around at home annoying the family. They would rather I went on holiday apparently. I am too demanding, too bossy, and too grumpy. OK, so I'll just go and live in the greenhouse then.

I do spend a lot of time down there, it is a haven. There is water, warmth, and lots and lots of oxygen. As a result I end up monitoring my plants obsessively and can totally lose track of time. It is a busy place, endless jobs need doing. Watering, fertilising, spraying, cleaning, repotting, sweeping. Anything but sitting down and resting which I am very bad at. But at least there is nobody telling me what urgently needs doing. 

Here is another nice landscape shot ruined by a bird. I was hoping to take a photo of this thistle and then an Izzy Wheatear came and sat on it. I am still slowly going through them. Non-urgently.