1y 20wks Post R2 - Managing stress and the Allotment Queen

Over the last few months in our hours there has been a lot of upheaval. 

What with ‘Stair-Gate’ (not the one that stops Amber-Dog attacking the dustbin in the utility room)  the getting our stairs in our house made safe fiasco. Then the Conservatory roof turning into a sieve and the indoor water feature, changing jobs and life in general it has been a little stressful – and that’s just me. Poor Gareth has had to put up with me and manage his own challenges too.

As much as it pains me, to admit it - YES damn myself I’m mentally preparing for Christmas already. It’s not even been Halloween or Bonfire night and I’m mentally planning blasted Christmas for crying out loud. I blame the retail industry for the following reasons:

·         Our garden centres have their Christmas trees up and carols playing (how anyone who works there isn’t a homicidal maniac long before the big day quite honestly staggers me)

·         Farm shops are taking Christmas meat orders

·         Costco is selling Tower Of Treats and 7ft tall ‘Festive Drummers’ WTAF is a festive drummer? – But on a bright note they have the seasonal stock of different sized aluminium trays in so I can stock up and maintain my 10 year record of NEVER having to soak and scrub an oven tray because life is just too damn short.

I’m not a ‘BAH-HUMBUG’ type honestly, but can’t we get the other 2 events out of the way first? It feels like we have to ‘out-perform’ last year and have everything one and planned even earlier than we did last year or we are failures. At this rate by 2020 I’ll be ready for Christmas in July 😊
We took possession of the allotment on Sunday morning, I even ended up with a few fresh beetroots to take home courtesy of the previous tenants. It needs some serious weeding to clear up the strawberry, rhubarb and raspberry beds. Some soil preparation for the asparagus, onions, shallots, garlic and winter salad needs to be done by the end of this month so that the yumminess will start appearing in spring.
We need to take a look at the other beds and configuration to work out where spring and summer planting will happen and what is going in. The thought of being able to just stop on the way home and pick the ingredients for dinner, bring them home and have them on the place within 30 minutes makes me very very happy 😊

We are looking forward to the weekend and the first meeting of the ‘Lux Dining Club’ at L’Ortolan for yummy Michelin Star French food and wine pairings.

The Sun Room as the conservatory will now be known is so much warmer than the building it replaced and once decorated will be stunning.

Life as always is frantic, always enjoyable, thoroughly loving every minute of it.

Much love
xx