gardening leave
I’ve probably bitten off more than I can chew here.
I have a couple of weeks off work at the moment on so-called “gardening leave”. This is sometimes what happens when you resign from one job to go work at a competitor: instead of working your notice period, you get to go home and wait it out, in theory working on your garden instead.
So this is indeed what I have been doing. I’m certainly not complaining.
This was a flowerbed that had long since turned into knee-height weeds. Today I’ve turned it over for the first time since we’ve been here (seven years) in a bit of an epic given my pasty and weak office worker physique.
Rosa was busy helping me all day too – you can see her handy shovel. Although she was a lot more interested in catching worms. It turns out that although worms are great for the garden, as Rosa explains it, if they are to be her friends they need to be clean. Later I found she’d been washing the poor wee buggers with soap and water in the bathroom sink.
It was for this garden that I posted my plea for help on the Wellingtonista the other day. We do have another garden plot out on the back lawn, but I already have potatoes in mind for it. Here, once I hoe the dirt into something approaching good tilth and give it a dose of lime to break up the clay, I’m thinking peas for a start. Maybe some carrots too. And anything else that strikes my fancy.
Hours of fun here.
Patrick Quinn-Graham
20 September 2007, 00:59 #
Time for another exciting job-related adventure, huh?
I’d never heard the term “gardening leave” until one of our friendly sales team decided to go and be a reporter for our #1 competitor. He used the time to “garden” on beaches while drinking bear.
Alan
20 September 2007, 09:06 #
Absolutely. If work can be considered an adventure, then call me Indiana Jones.
Actually, sitting on a beach drinking beer does sound quite good. Hmmmm…
Patrick Quinn-Graham
20 September 2007, 11:07 #
You, of course, have easily accessible beaches that are good for drinking beer on.
(The only British beach I’ve been to, Brighton, is not good for drinking bear on. Pubs near by are acceptable though.)
Did any of the worms survive the “cleaning”?
Alan
20 September 2007, 12:39 #
That we do, although it’s not likely that I’ll be going to any of them for the sole purpose of drinking beer any time soon. Not with the kids, anyway.
Have you been to Cornwall? There’s lots of nice beaches and coastal spots there. Might even be one or two with a pub close enough to a beach to be almost drinking beer on the beach…
…also of course, there is the added attraction of Cornish Pasties. MMMMMMMM!
As for the worms, I don’t think their life was improved by being cleaned, no. But they did go back into the dirt afterwards, so hopefully they are OK.
Patrick Quinn-Graham
21 September 2007, 05:57 #
Would it be irresponsible to go to a beach to drink under the guise of taking the kids to play in the sand? I suspect so, sadly.
Haven’t been to Cornwall yet. Cornish pasties… are an interesting thing. I quite liked one I had, but the traditional not so much. Too much onion I think.
Personal Growth
22 September 2007, 08:54 #
Gardening is one real good job that gives us a real good mind freshning. That automatically changes the state of the mind and enhances the production rate. of your mind.
Alan
22 September 2007, 16:50 #
There’s a shop somewhere down there that does fantastically interesting cornish pasties – their tandoori chicken cornish pastie was genius.
But that was ten years ago now…