I’m lucky
that a have a small-to-reasonably-sized back yard.
I’m also lucky that’s it’s
in a pretty neglected condition.
I wouldn’t
normally be saying that, of course. On a normal day, I’d be looking out of the
window at my back yard, berating my utter lack of gardening motivation and
general uselessness. But these are not normal days, are they?
Yesterday
morning, being encouraged to stay at home, I ventured out into the back yard
and had a look around. There’s no doubt that I value the idea of being outside
much more now that I’ve been told that I shouldn’t leave the house.
On a normal
Saturday morning, I’d be running to the shop for breakfast provisions. I’d
probably have some writing workshop thing that my mind would be full of.
I’d be a man on the move. But these are not normal Saturdays, are they? So, to
get some air, and to get out from under everybody’s feet in the house, I
ventured out into the back yard. I figured that a little day-to-day yard work
will get me out of the house and into the air and might even wreak a small improvement
on my valuable amenity.
Look, don’t
get me wrong. My yard is not a disaster area or anything. It’s not like a toxic
wasteland where three-eyed froggies freely roam. In fact, it’s quite a pleasant
little corner of the world. Me and the cats seem to think so anyway, as last
week’s post confirmed.
As I
surveyed my tatty domain, I started to get a tiny sneaking ‘what’s the point?’ feeling
about the proposed work. The place is just too far gone, what good could old ‘Soft-Hands
Ken’ possibly do?
But I
reminded myself of a Twitter pal, Josie George, who shared with us how she did
a very small bit in her garden regularly and how, day on day, these small endeavours
brought about improvements that were both satisfying and rewarding.
So, I
gathered my tools.
I don’t
have very many tools, as you would expect from a home-boy wuss like me, but I
found a secateurs and a spade and a brush and a long-handled snipping-thing that
I can already tell will be my ongoing weapon of choice. I WD-40'ed the shit out
of the few moving parts and then I picked a corner and started snipping and
clipping and dragging and piling.
The ginger
cat from last week’s post sat on a flat sun-drenched stone round the back of the
trampoline and studiously ignored me, choosing instead to clean itself from
head to paw and not even flinching when the oil-drenched clipping tool came
out.
I cleared
some space around the twirly clothesline area, such that all three sides of it
is now accessible where only one-and-a-half sides was before. In the end, I may
have done little more than transfer an unclipped area of bramble to a clipped
pile of bramble across the yard. But, hey, the sun was shining, and I stopped
at unreasonably short intervals to just lean and breathe and watch the cat’s
studied cleaning regime.
I realise I’m
very lucky man to have a little space that I can go out in without being a hazard
to anybody else and I’m not trying to rub anything in either. I suppose I’m
just thinking that, as our world closes down for a time and as a great
challenge sits ahead of us, we have to do what we can to remain strong and
clear in our thinking. We gotta use what we have, be it a book or an open window
or a pet who is glad to have you around so much more.
What do I
know? I’m off to clip a thorny bush. It’s funny how the bush will always get a little
nick out of me before I’m done. That seems fair, somehow.
And hey, Monsieur Cat, isn’t that bit clean enough yet?