Letter to the Garden - January 2024

Dear Garden

Well here we are in a new year and I want to say, a new storm.  As I write Storm Isha is gusting towards us.  

a walk in the local park

Apparently the storm naming year begins afresh every September.  According to the radio this morning that we have reached 'I' already means we are having a very stormy season.  Further googling suggests that 2024 was the quickest year (since 2015 when the naming convention started in the UK) for us to reach H - Henck and we are now at Isha and January has more time to go.  Will we reach Jocelyn....?

I have to admit, dear garden, that I find storms increasingly worrying.  I worry about my roof in particular despite having quite a bit of work done on it last year.  So I should be feeling less anxious, but still I worry.  This worry was not helped by after Storm Henck I found two panels of the greenhouse smashed, one in the roof and one at the side.  This was the first time the greenhouse has had storm damage so I sort of thought it was about time but I also started to worry if this was age kicking in and that the greenhouse would now suffer damage more and more.

Well, dear reader, it turned out not to be storm damage at all.  I ordered the replacement panels and when they arrived I set to replacing the side panel.  This is easy to do, unlike the roof panel where I had to enlist help from a friend.  Anyhoo, I wander around to the side of the greenhouse and I am greeted by this sight.... 

Clearly the greenhouse has been used as target practice by some darling.  Sigh.

The roof vent proved harder to fix, it was hard to reach and hard to work out how to do it and then foiled by some idiot (moi???)  ordered the wrong size panel - big sigh.  So we weathered proofed as best we could the opening as Storm Isha is knocking at the door and I have visions of every panel blowing out of the greenhouse overnight.  I shall update you dear garden with how this goes. 

I have tried to take some preventative action to prevent easy reoccurance as well.  Firstly I asked Esme, the fiercest of cats, to guard the area and attack any raised arm with a stone in it.  Esme explained that whilst she is the fiercest of cats and intelligent enough to determine a stone throwing arm - but she really couldn't be bothered.  So I went to plan B.  I took a wander along the side boundary to see if I could see the source of the rockage.  There is was, a small pile of broken concrete.  It looked like it had been something cylindrical that had probably had a fire lit in it at some point.  So I gathered up the bits and hoiked them (technical term) over my fence into the garden by the shed.  I am sure it will come into some use at some point.....  After a quick check I could not see any more potential missiles and wandered back into the garden whilst the winds of Storm Isha continued to develop.

Dear garden, I can hear you asking why the photo at the top of this letter is from a walk in a local park and not from you.  I thought if I was going to play away I should be up front about it.  With what has felt like weeks of rain and then you have been frozen, I have been going for walks in the local park to get my nature-outdoor fix.  You know I walk quite a lot anyway and Leicester is lucky to have a lot of parks (I live with three is close proximity and a large playing field), and on the day I took this photo I was actually on my way to visit the dentist.  It is a nice four mile round trip and I like when I can include a park on a walk to somewhere.  Sometimes the walk is to the park and around the park, but not this time, I was passing through.  It does not mean I do not love you my dear garden, my relationship with the park is different to my relationship with you; but it does make a nice walk and it was a lovely frosty sunny morning.

Anyway dear garden I need to get on, the sun is currently shining so I am going to have a wander around you and see how the snowdrops are doing.

Until next time, take care and much love

Your loving gardener x

Take care and be kind.

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