It never rains...

...at least, not in Norwich these days.

That's a bit of a lie.  There was definite misting this afternoon as we were planning on leaving the office, but by the time I had returned home the streets were dry and I got to go on the evening walk with Gav and Pepper.  Which was lovely. 

But not lovely for the allotment.

Yes, at long last we've managed to do a bit more work in the allotment!  Not alone, I hasten to add, it would have been impossible without the kind assistance of Papa B and under the watchful eyes of Zoe, Pepper and Rodney, but we finally have a Vegetable Plot.


The Vegetable Plot lives at the front of our allotment, possibly as far from the Shed (at the back) as you can get.  By the Shed we have got Tomato Corner.  More on Tomato Corner later.  The Vegetable Plot is positioned by the entrance because, just before the tree with bird seed feeders hanging from it, there is a water source.  This water source is kind of like a giant sink with a tap that comes from it, rather than a tap that pours into it.  Does that make sense?  I hope so...


Firstly, an allotmenteer must clear carpet from their patch.  We have done that.  Rolled it up into nice piles.  Ready for the winter when we want to lay it again?  Not quite sure what we'll do with it, but we are a family of hoarders.  Having cleared the carpet, it is time to get the shed built (done, but not blogged about - maybe another time) and the plot rotovated.  This is where the boys come in.

 Apparently, rotovating isn't as hard as all that.  Not that I was too interested.  I was completely distracted by the goodies.

I know it's not 100% how you should do it, but we've been contending with a lot, both procrastinating about our studies, I've worked away, Pepper dog takes up a lot of time, Norwich have been promoted, we've got a wedding to plan (dresses to try on) and none of our horses won the Grand National.  Which was pants.  But the plants were good.  

See what I did there?!  I'm a freaking comedienne.

In there we had a whole bunch of:
- Lettuce
- Leaf beets
- Beetroot
- pretty flowers, that I've already forgotten the names of
- 1 x cucumber
- 2 x chilis
- 3 x cherry tomatoes
- 2 x courgettes
- 2 x pepperes
- Kale that my parents started off
- 3 x tomato plants we picked up outside a house near my parents'
- Potatoes!!!!  Lots of

Plus, we also planted seeds for:
- Carrots
- Broccoli

- Artichoke.

I'm most excited about the artichoke.

Doesn't it look good?  We're going to put some scarecrows and netting out to protect our little plants this weekend.  Tomato corner lives by the shed, as it is a bit more sheltered for my precious plants.  The previous allotmenteers had kindly left us with many, many bottle 'green houses' that we are utilising to make sure the plants grow big and strong.  Not sure if we're meant to make them grow that big, but I'm excited.

 
So I've been spending my lunch breaks watering the seeds and talking to the plants.  It's really quite nice.

And probably the first time I've wanted a downpour in quite some time.

As I said, it never rains...

All work and no play

I love to complain.  What Anne cannot complain about probably isn't even worth mentioning.  Having said that, working away isn't always so bad and I really do enjoy my job on the sly.  Last week I got to stay in a hotel in Sheffield that made the best burgers I've ever had (and I've had some burgers in my time).  While the hotel seemed to be situated on a dual carriageway, it was within a two minute walk to a local pub that had a claw crane by the front door with perhaps the ugliest toys I've ever seen.  But, even better than that, I was introduced to the best pub quiz game I've played ever.  The pub quiz game is actually available nation wide I would imagine, but my kind colleagues introduced it to me here.  I was cheated out of a £2 prize.  Gutted.  Here's to the next time.

I also got to stay in a hotel that shall remain nameless because it really isn't worth mentioning - slightly Fawlty Towers-esque with 70s carpets.  Best pillows of the week, for sure though.  What I really liked about this hotel was the fact that it was situated in the Yorkshire countryside, just outside of Bradford, with a field of cows right beside us and it didn't rain.

Perfect.

  
After our first day I went for a little wander into the village and saw the pretty cotton-puff clouds in the sky.  There's something pretty lovely about a blue sky with the green grass beneath it.  I found a village green where the locals were playing cricket.  I sat and watched for a minute before remembering I didn't have the faintest idea about what they were doing and really didn't care.  Plus I was missing a drink and knew it was almost time for my next three course meal courtesy of the company.  So I headed back through the fields, past a cute church complete with stocks (still in use? Who knows what happened to the losing cricketers) and the best cared for churchyard I've seen in a while, with pretty little benches and hundreds of wild flowers.
 

 
The best part of it all though was when I got to pet the cows.  They (the cows) didn't let me near the little calves, but it was like a petting zoo with potentially really wild animals.  Don't tell the people left in the office just how much fun it really is working away, they'll all want to go too!