11th October 2019
Today was “help a pensioner day”.
Rob, my old school friend had called me earlier in the week asking me to help him prune his large palm tree. As I had to return the lamp I had repaired for him, it was no problem to do that.
Rob damaged his shoulder falling off a ladder last year, and recently had an operation to repair the muscle. This left him a bit limited in the type of work he can do, so where I can, I help him out.
In return he finds ways to take the piss, and generally make things fun.
When I arrived at his house there were several bags full of gardening waste waiting by his gate.
I carried the lamp up his path, which was not as simple as it sounds because the top section articulates and swings round on it’s own accord. When it was in the car, it rolled about even though I had wedged it securely, the top section swung around like a demented crane.
I managed to get it through the front door without any major damage, and he was delighted with the result, although he did try it to check that the lamp still worked.
His garden is very well established, it is small but could easily be used as a jungle film set. There is a magnificent palm standing twelve to fifteen feet in height.
He handed me the extendable loppers and set about directing me at the leaves he wanted removing.
These are quite heavy especially when they land on your head, but also I had to be careful not to stand on some of his new plants.
He also wanted to remove the seed pods, these were the worst things, because at the slightest touch they dropped off the stems.
This was a nightmare when we loaded them into the Shogun, they went everywhere. I will still be finding them for years to come.
After taking them to the Bath recycling centre, we stopped off for our regular Masala Dosa.
We have been to the restaurant so many times we don’t even have to give our order, it gets started the moment we walk through the door.
Another Lifetime to go 